Computer-controlled marketplace network for digital transactions

ABSTRACT

A marketplace network for facilitating transactions among a plurality of marketplace participants. The marketplace network includes a plurality of service provider systems associated with respective service provider participants. Each of the plurality of service provider systems are communicatively coupled to a respective merchant server. The marketplace network includes a plurality of user systems associated with respective user participants configured to generate a service request to one of the plurality of service provider systems. The marketplace server facilitates transactions digitally by executing a set of computer-executable tasks for securely processing transactional exchanges among the marketplace participants. The transactional exchanges include at least exchanges of ownership rights for digitally stored data at least in part owned originally by the user participants.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Provisional ApplicationNo. 62/838,473 filed on Apr. 25, 2019, the complete disclosure of which,in its entirety, is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The embodiments herein generally relate to computer-controlled systems,and more particularly to, a computer-controlled marketplace network forenabling transactional exchanges digitally among various participants ofthe marketplace network.

Description of the Related Art

In a marketplace ecosystem, a large number of parties are involved fortransactional exchanges and a lot of transactions happen among buyersand service providers for the purchase and delivery of various productsand services. Among these ecosystems, payment transactions have receiveda lot of attention from the service providers and the buyers sincepayment is central to building a marketplace. Most of the payment modesare still dependent on traditional financial instruments such as cashand credit transactions. These marketplaces are attempting to developmore ways of facilitating payments in order to become the most widelyaccepted payment service at the same time ensuring reliable processingof the marketplace transactions among thousands and millions ofparticipants. However, in view of the various attempts to develop such apayment service system, there is still a need of a new and a moresecured and enhanced dynamic way of processing marketplace transactionsinvolving millions of participants.

SUMMARY

In view of the foregoing, an embodiment herein provides a networkedsystem containing a computer-controlled marketplace network forfacilitating seamless transactions among a plurality of marketplacenetwork participant systems. The networked system includes a pluralityof service provider systems associated with respective service providerparticipants and located remotely from one another physically inrespective service settings that each includes one or more centralservers, data stores, and cloud-based computing components for managingand processing delivery of one or more services in the service settingsby the plurality of service provider systems. Each of the plurality ofservice provider systems are communicatively coupled to a respectivemerchant server. The marketplace network further includes a plurality ofuser systems associated with respective user participants locatedremotely from one another and remotely from the plurality of serviceprovider systems and configured to generate a service request to one ofthe plurality of service provider systems in the marketplace network.

The marketplace server facilitates marketplace transactions digitally byexecuting a set of computer-executable tasks for securely processingtransactional exchanges among the marketplace network participantsystems, wherein the transactional exchanges include at least exchangesof ownership rights for digitally stored data at least in part ownedoriginally by the user participants. The marketplace server includes amarketplace interaction component where the service providerparticipants can establish their one or more offerings digitally for thetransactional exchanges. The one or more offerings are associated withrespective transactional values that are predefined across themarketplace network by the respective service provider participants. Themarketplace server includes a memory circuit configured to storetransactional information associated with each transactional exchange ofthe transactional exchanges among the participants in the marketplacenetwork. The marketplace server includes a processing circuit incommunication with the memory circuit and configured to process atransactional exchange digitally and generate an ownership trail of atransacted offering when a user participant consents for data ownershiptransfer, exclusively or inclusively for the data at least in part, fromthe user participant, toward a digital purchase and delivery of theoffering, wherein the data at least in part has a value of at leastequal to a transactional value of the offering exchanged between theservice provider participant and the user participant over themarketplace network.

The marketplace interaction component may allow the service providersystems to define a set of digitally recognizable data valuationparameters for one or more entities and attributes associated with theone or more entities, publish the set of digitally recognizable datavaluation parameters defined by the service provider systems, transactfor the offerings digitally published in the marketplace network withthe data ownership transfer for the data at least in part valued at thetransactional value, associated with the offering, calculated inaccordance with the set of digitally recognizable data valuationparameters identified by the service provider systems.

The set digitally recognizable data valuation parameters include one ormore of type of the data, length of the data, source of the data, numberof entities contained in the data, and number of attributes associatedwith each of the entities. The transaction exchange may include deliveryof the offering to the user participant by the service provider systemand transferring of the data to the service provider system by the userparticipant system at the time of the transaction exchange, wherein thetransferring of the data to the service provider system includes one ormore of changing access privileges for the service provider system forthe data and sharing access credentials of a secured repositorycontaining the data to the service provider system for allowing access.The transaction exchange may include delivery of the offering to theuser participant by the service provider system at the time oftransaction exchange and delaying the transferring of the data to theservice provider system by the user participant system for a laterspecified time depending on availability of the data with the userparticipant system.

The system may include a plurality of buyer systems associated withrespective buyer participants located remotely from one another andremotely from the service provider systems and the user systems, whereineach of the plurality of buyer systems comprises a respective buyerserver. The service provider system may be communicatively coupled tothe buyer system such that the transactional value for the offering isdefined based on an input received from the buyer system by the serviceprovider system, further wherein the trail of ownership transfercomprises at least a transfer of ownership from the user participant tothe service provider participant, and from the service providerparticipant to the buyer participant either in real-time or deferred fora later time than when the transactional exchange is performed.

The plurality of participant systems may be in communication with oneanother over a peer-to-peer communication network that maintains adecentralized blockchain ledger for tracking and recording thetransactional exchanges and ownership trails, wherein each of theparticipant systems includes at least one processing circuit and atleast one physical storage medium that stores at least a portion of thedecentralized blockchain ledger comprising a distributed database torecord transactional information associated with a transactionalexchange that occur on the peer-to-peer communication network between atleast two participants systems.

An embodiment herein provides a merchant acquisition system forfacilitating acquisition of an item in a digital marketplace network.The merchant acquisition system includes a merchant servercommunicatively coupled and associated with a service provider system.The merchant server includes a processor and a physical storage mediumthat stores merchandise information and transactional informationassociated with the service provider system. The processor is configuredto define a set of digitally recognizable data valuation parameters forone or more entities and attributes associated with tradable dataoriginally stored at a user system remotely located from the merchantserver. The processor is further configured to publish the set ofdigitally recognizable data valuation parameters defined by the serviceprovider system in the marketplace network along with digitally listedone or more offerings and transact for the item with a user participantassociated with the user system with data ownership transfer for thetradable data at least in part owned originally by the user participantand valued at a transactional value no less than value of the itemcalculated in accordance with the set of digitally recognizable datavaluation parameters defined by the service provider system.

The merchant server may be communicatively coupled to a buyer serverlocated remotely from the merchant server, wherein the buyer server isassociated with a respective buyer participant, such that thetransactional value for the offering may be defined by the merchantserver based on an input received from the buyer server. An ownershiptrail of the data ownership transfer for the data at least in part mayinclude at least a transfer of the ownership from the user participantto the service provider participant, and from the service providerparticipant to the buyer participant either in real-time or deferred fora later time than when the acquisition of the item is performed.

The merchant server, the buyer server, and the user system are incommunication with one another over a peer-to-peer communication networkthat maintains a decentralized blockchain ledger for tracking andrecording the acquisition of the item and the ownership trail. Each ofthe merchant server, the buyer server, and the user system may includeat least one processing circuit and at least one physical storage mediumthat stores at least a portion of the decentralized blockchain ledgerincluding a distributed database to record acquisition informationassociated with the acquisition of the item that occur on thepeer-to-peer communication network between at least two of the merchantserver, the buyer server, and the user system.

The merchant server may be a first merchant server and the serviceprovider system may be a first service provider system, such that thesystem may further include an arbitrarily large number of merchantservers associated with respective service provider systems, eachpublishing one or more digital offerings in the marketplace networktradable in return of ownership transfer of one or more data files froman arbitrarily large number of computer-executable data files. Each ofthe computer-executable data files may be owned originally by a userparticipant from an arbitrarily large number of user participantsassociated with respective user systems and communicating with the firstmerchant server and the arbitrarily large number of merchant serversover the marketplace network.

The merchant server may enable a cryptographic wallet to reflectequivalent transactional value of one or more computer-executable datafiles owned originally by the user participant and marked by the userparticipant for trading in the marketplace network, wherein the one ormore computer-executable data files includes the tradable data in returnof the one or more offerings. The cryptographic wallet may provide oneor more acquisition-driven smart contracts that may enable security oftransactional information among transacting participants. Thecryptographic wallet may be configured to append blocks to thedecentralized blockchain ledger with every acquisition which may enablerecording of the transactional information across many systemsassociated with the network participants so that any involvedinformation cannot be altered.

The acquisition of the item may include either of: 1) delivery of theoffering to the user participant by the merchant server and transferringof the data to the merchant server by the user participant system at thetime of the acquisition. The transferring of the data to the merchantserver may include one or more of modifying access privileges for themerchant server so as to allow the data to be accessed by the merchantserver, and sharing access credentials of a secured repositorycontaining the data to the merchant server for allowing access. 2)delivery of the offering to the user participant by the merchant serverat the time of acquisition of the item and delaying the transferring ofthe data to the merchant server by the user participant system for alater specified time depending on availability of the data with the userparticipant system. The set digitally recognizable data valuationparameters may include one or more of type of the data, length of thedata, source of the data, number of entities contained in the data, andnumber of attributes associated with each of the entities.

An embodiment herein provides a computer-controlled system for automatedevidence-based transactional exchange between a service provider systemassociated with a service provider and a mobile communication deviceassociated with a user. The system includes a merchant server configuredto collect predefined information about a mobile communication deviceand an associated user. The predefined information includes at least afirst computer-executable input indicative of an identifier of themobile communication device and the associated user, and a secondcomputer-executable input indicative of a service sought for delivery inthe service setting. The merchant server is further configured togenerate a first short message service component (SMS) that is sent tothe mobile communication device. The merchant server is furtherconfigured to generate a second short message service component (SMS)that is sent to a service provider system. The first SMS and the secondSMS contain a first secured hashlink and a second secured hashlinkrespectively that are executable by the user and the service providerrespectively, such that the first SMS and the second SMS are indicativeof delivery of the service. The merchant server is further configured toallow a transaction involving delivery of the service to the user andtransfer of ownership of digitally executable data originally owned bythe user to the service provider when the data is available at a latertime in return of the service availed by the user.

The data may be valued at no less than a value of the service calculatedin accordance with a set of digitally recognizable data valuationparameters defined by the service provider system. The merchant servermay generate and send a confirmation electronic message along with adigitally executable unique service proof token (SPT) to the mobilecommunication device and the service provider system upon completion ofthe service delivery after execution of the first secured hashlink andthe second secured hashlink respectively by the mobile communicationdevice and the service provider system. The unique SPT may be associatedwith each of the mobile communication device and the service providersystem and may be indicative of completion and delivery of the serviceby the service provider system to the user associated with the mobilecommunication device.

The service provider system may be able to access the data automaticallyfrom a database when the data is available upon submitting the serviceproof token (SPT). The SPT may serve as an evidence of the delivery ofthe service by the service provider to the user at a different priortime when the data was not yet available.

The system may further include a blockchain device configured toautomatically store computer-executable instructions including the SPTassociated with the mobile communication device and the service providersystem for delivery of the service. The system may further include acentral verification device to verify the evidence of the servicedelivery. The central verification device may be configured to comparethe SPT submitted by the service system with the SPT stored in theblockchain device to allow the service provider system access to thedatabase storing the data.

An embodiment herein provides a computer-controlled system for automatedevidence-based transactional exchange between a service provider systemassociated with a service provider and a mobile communication deviceassociated with a user. The system includes a server configured tocollect predefined information about a mobile communication device andan associated user. The predefined information includes at least a firstcomputer-executable input indicative of an identifier of the mobilecommunication device and the associated user, and a secondcomputer-executable input indicative of a service sought for delivery inthe service setting. The server is further configured to generate andsend a confirmation electronic message along with a digitally executableunique service proof token (SPT) to the mobile communication device andthe service provider system upon completion of the service delivery. Theunique SPT is associated with each of the mobile communication deviceand the service provider system and records an evidence of thecompletion and delivery of the service by the service provider system tothe user associated with the mobile communication device. The server isfurther configured to allow a transaction involving transfer ofownership of digitally executable data, originally owned by the user, tothe service provider system when the data is available at a later timein return of the service availed by the user.

The server may be further configured to generate a first short messageservice component (SMS) that may be sent to the mobile communicationdevice. The server may be further configured to generate a second shortmessage service component (SMS) that may be sent to the service providersystem. The first SMS and the second SMS contain a first securedhashlink and a second secured hashlink respectively that are executableby the user and the service provider respectively, such that the firstSMS and the second SMS are indicative of delivery of the service. TheSPT may be generated after execution of the first secured hashlink andthe second secured hashlink respectively by the mobile communicationdevice and the service provider system. The first secured hashlink andthe second secured hashlink may each be executable with clicks such thatthe execution of the first secured hashlink and the second securedhashlink may record a proof of respective locations of the mobilecommunication device and the service provider system.

The respective clicks may record GPS locations of the mobilecommunication device and the service provider system. The system mayinclude a blockchain device such that the GPS locations of the mobilecommunication device and the service provider system along with servicedetails may be stored in the blockchain device within the STP. Theservice provider system may be configured to automatically secure theownership of the digitally executable data at a later time using the STPfrom the blockchain device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments herein will be better understood from the followingdetailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates, among other things, an example of a computerizedarchitecture for a marketplace in which various embodiments herein mayoperate;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a cloud-based central controllingsystem interacting with various network participants in accordance withan embodiment herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a cloud-based central controllingsystem interacting with a pre-consenting device, a service providersystem, among other devices in accordance with an embodiment herein;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a pre-consenting device inaccordance with an embodiment herein;

FIG. 5 illustrates blockchain computer architecture of the system ofFIG. 1 along with other systems in accordance with an embodiment herein;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary blockchain device in accordance with anembodiment herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary merchant acquisition system connectedwith other devices and servers in accordance with an embodiment herein;

FIG. 8 illustrates a scenario for facilitating recording of an evidenceof a service delivery by an evidence system according to an embodimentherein; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system according to anembodiment herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous detailsthereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limitingembodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings anddetailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-knowncomponents are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure theembodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely tofacilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein maybe practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practicethe embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not beconstrued as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system 5 containing an onlinemarketplace network 100 connecting a plurality of user systems 102 (102a, 102 b, 102 c, . . . , 102 n), which may be mobile communicationdevices or computers associated with a plurality of users (or userparticipants), a plurality of buyer systems 104 (104 a, 104 b, 104 c, .. . , 104 n), which may be mobile communication devices or computersassociated with a plurality of buyers (or buyer participants), and aplurality of service provider systems 106 (106 a, 106 b, 106 c, . . . ,106 n), which may be mobile communication devices or computersassociated with a plurality of service providers (service providerparticipants). A service provider may provide different types ofservices and products (items) for the users digitally through the onlinemarketplace network 100. The marketplace network 100 may be enabledthrough a network 108 which may run, govern and facilitate fulfillmentof a service request made by the users, service providers and the buyerswithin the network 108. All the different types of systems andassociated entities such as the users, buyers, and the service providersmay be referred to as marketplace participants or participants.

The online marketplace network 100 may further include a marketplaceserver 110, a cloud-based central controlling system 112 (also referredto as a controlling system or a control system), a cloud-based centraldata center 114 (or data center), and a network device 116 providingnetworked facilities for the participants within the network 108enabling the online marketplace network 100 also referred to as digitalmarketplace network 100 without limitations.

The marketplace network 100 may provide an online platform accessiblethrough a mobile device app or a website which may provide users agraphical user interface through which a user can register or book aservice (a tangible product included within the interpretation of aservice or services without limitations), browse through a list ofservices listed in the marketplace network 100, select a service ofinterest (referred to as a selected item or selected service) from aplurality of services listed in the marketplace network 100 by theservice providers. The marketplace network 100 may allow a user toeither buy the selected item or add it to a user cart provided by themarketplace network 100 for buying in the future. The online platform ormarketplace network 100 provides an effective and efficient method forthe user to search among a large number of services provided by any ofthe plurality of service providers and listed in the marketplace network100 digitally.

The marketplace network 100 may include an arbitrarily large number ofservice providers and may facilitate and enable the customers (users) toplace orders from a large variety of services and products. The buyersystems 104 (also referred to as service provider or vendor systems) mayhave to first register with the online marketplace network 100 andverify their identity to access functionalities provided by the onlinemarketplace network 100. The registration and verification of theservice providers help prevent the users from fraud, provide securityand maintains a quality check. The marketplace network 100 may alsoprovide a service provider rating facility which may be aimed to helpthe service providers and customers to understand market dynamics betterand help build trust between the participants based on reputation of theparticipants.

The online marketplace network 100 may include a notification facility(not shown) which may facilitate notifying the users about arrival oftheir orders, addition of new products or services or service providersin the marketplace network 100 and so on. The notification facility maybe enabled in the form of a short messaging service (SMS) component,email, etc. The marketplace network 100 may also provide an option tochange notification settings according to a user's needs.

The online marketplace network 100 may provide a booking/orderprocessing functionality to ensure reserving goods and services by theusers and collecting delivery information by the service providers fordelivery of the services and goods at a destination selected by theusers. The online marketplace network 100 may provide a communicationinterface between the users and the service providers.

The marketplace network 100 may provide a customer service facility (notshown) executed by the marketplace server 110, which may facilitatekeeping in touch with respective customers (or users) of the serviceproviders and grow loyalty. The marketplace network 100 may use thecustomer service facility for promotions, partner recruitment,collecting and visualizing data to understand tendencies in themarketplace network 100.

In an embodiment, the marketplace network 100 may provide a facility forthe service providers or the users to remain anonymous in that theiridentity is not disclosed publicly in the marketplace network 100. Insuch cases, only parties that are involved in performing certaintransactions such as sale or purchase of a service or product may knowthe identity of one another through private conversations and a securedone-to-one messaging service. The messaging service may initiatediscussions between the parties after both parties agree for the privateconversation. This may allow the entities or participants involved intransacting those services that may require a certain level of privacyto perform transactions through the marketplace network 100. Suchservices may include healthcare services, fintech (financialinstruments), and the like without limitations. For example, a patientand a clinician may connect over the marketplace network 100 privatelywithout disclosing their identities publicly in the marketplace network100.

Security components may be provided to implement any desired level ofsecurity, or predefined security measures, or privacy measures, etc.Privacy considerations can be taken into account by the securitycomponents. For instance, it may be considered that the various serviceproviders may wish to remain anonymous except to those who avail theservices. Similarly, one or more of the users may wish to remainanonymous in that they do not wish to have any selected providers orother users know their identity except the ones whom they finallyshortlist for delivering the services. Similarly, information discussedwithin various communication sessions (or meetings) may be sensitive orconfidential which has to be kept private. In such cases, selectedproviders or users may auto-execute a non-disclosure agreement or othertype of confidentiality agreement. The security components may tenderthe agreement for signature by the service providers and the usersconcerned during a transaction.

In an embodiment, the marketplace network 100 may provide aseller-financing facility executed through the marketplace server 110for the users such that they may buy the goods and the services bymaking some sort of a down payment to the service providers and thenmake installments (usually a monthly basis) over a specified time and anagreed-upon policy until the loan is fully repaid. The onlinemarketplace network 100 may include listings for transaction offeringsthat may include transaction terms and seller-financing terms. Thetransaction terms may include trustworthiness, prior finance records,verification of a service provider. The marketplace network 100 mayinclude the central controlling system 112 that may be configured tointeract with the buyers, the users, and the service providers and theassociated systems to define terms of the seller-financed transactions.The transaction terms may be evaluated by the central controlling system112 which may evaluate such as trustworthiness of the service providers,buyers, and the users depending on their prior transactions and monitorcompliance of the transaction terms.

In an embodiment, the service provider systems 106 associated with therespective service provider participants are located remotely from oneanother physically in respective service settings that each includes oneor more central servers, data stores, and cloud-based computingcomponents for managing and processing delivery of the services in theservice settings by the plurality of service provider systems 106. Eachof the service provider systems 106 are communicatively coupled to arespective merchant server such as the merchant server 126 shown in FIG.1 associated with the service provider system 106 a.

In an embodiment, the user systems 102 are associated with therespective user participants and are located remotely from one anotherand remotely from the service provider systems 106 and are configured togenerate the service request to one of the service provider systems 106in the marketplace network 100.

The marketplace server 110 may facilitate the marketplace transactionsor simply the transactions digitally by executing a set ofcomputer-executable tasks for securely processing the transactionalexchanges or the transactions among the marketplace network participantsystems. The transactional exchanges include at least a transfer ofownership rights for digitally stored data at least in part which isowned originally by the user participants. In an example, the transferof the ownership rights may include a promise to transfer the data tothe buyer systems 104 or the service provider systems 106 by the usersystems 102.

The marketplace server 110 may include a marketplace interactioncomponent 124 where the service provider participants can establishtheir offerings digitally for various transactional exchanges. Each ofthe offerings is associated with respective transactional valuespredefined across the marketplace network 100 by the respective serviceprovider participants who enlist them with the marketplace network 100for the transactional exchanges.

The marketplace interaction component 124 further allows the serviceprovider systems 106 to perform a set of functions such as to define aset of digitally recognizable data valuation parameters for entities andassociated attributes, publish the set of digitally recognizable datavaluation parameters defined by the service provider systems 106, and totransact for the offerings digitally published in the marketplacenetwork 100 with the data ownership transfer for the data at least inpart which is valued at the transactional value set by the serviceprovider systems 106 for the offering. The transactional valueassociated with the offering may be calculated in accordance with theset of digitally recognizable data valuation parameters identified bythe service provider systems 106. The set digitally recognizable datavaluation parameters comprise one or more of type of the data, length ofthe data, source of the data, number of entities contained in the data,and number of attributes associated with each of the entities. Forexample, of the length of the data is more, then the transactional valueof the data may be higher.

The marketplace network 100 may include at least one processing device118 connected with the central controlling system 112 and at least onecomputer readable storage device (also referred to as cloud-basedcentral data center) 120 including a database 122 or a memory circuitstoring instructions that, when executed by the at least one processingdevice 118 of the central controlling system 112 may cause to receivedescriptions of a plurality of transaction offerings from the serviceproviders for the users of the online marketplace network 100. Thetransaction offerings are available from the service providers over timeagainst payments for a plurality of listings paid through a methodreferred to herein as ‘data as currency’ or “pay per data” method aswill be discussed later.

The storage device or the memory circuit also referred to as cloud-basedcentral data center 120 may be configured to store transactionalinformation associated with each transactional exchange of thetransactional exchanges among the participants in the marketplacenetwork 100.

The processing circuit or the processing device 118 is in communicationwith the cloud-based central data center 120 and configured to process atransactional exchange digitally and generate an ownership trail of atransacted offering when a user participant consents for data ownershiptransfer. The transfer of the ownership of the data may be doneexclusively or inclusively such that the rights of the data may still beowned by the original owner along with the participant who newly getsthe ownership rights if the transfer is inclusive or may be exclusive isthe data is transferred to the new participant with exclusive rights.The transfer of the ownership rights occurs from a user participant,toward a digital purchase and delivery of an offering such that the dataat least in part has a value of at least equal to a transactional valueof the offering exchanged between the service provider participant andthe user participant over the marketplace network 100.

The service provider systems 106 may be communicatively coupled to oneor more buyer systems 104 such that the transactional values for theofferings are defined based on an input received from the one or morebuyer systems 104 by the service provider systems 106. The trail ofownership transfer may include at least a transfer of the ownership fromthe user participant to the service provider participant, and from theservice provider participant to the buyer participant either inreal-time or deferred for a later time than when the transactionalexchange is performed. This is because the service provider systems 106may eventually transact the data with a third party such as the buyer ofthe data. In some embodiments, however, the buyer may be the serviceprovider only and there may not be a third party involved to govern thetransactional value etc.

The ownership trail is a chain or sequence of ownership changes alongwith details of owners at each stage of ownership change that isdigitally recorded in the form of computer-executable files by themarketplace server 110. In an embodiment, the ownership trail isrecorded in blockchain ledgers as discussed later.

In an example, the transactional exchange may include delivery of anoffering to a user participant or a user system such as user system 102a by a service provider systems 106 such as the service provider system106 a and transferring of the data to the service provider system 106 aby the user system 102 a at the time of the transaction exchange. Thetransferring of the data to the service provider system 106 a mayinclude one or more of changing access privileges for the serviceprovider system 106 a for the data and sharing access credentials of asecured repository containing the data to the service provider system106 a for allowing access to the data. In some cases, the transactionalexchange may include delivery of the offering to the user participant bythe service provider system 106 a at the time of the transactionalexchange but delaying the transferring of the data to the serviceprovider system 106 a by the buyer system 104 a for a later specifiedtime depending on availability of the data with the buyer system 104 a.

In an example, each of the buyer systems 104 and the service providersystems 106 may be communicatively coupled to respective buyer serverssuch as a buyer server 128 associated with the buyer system 104 a andrespective service provider servers such as a service provider server ormerchant server 126 which hosts various processing and data capabilitiesof the respective systems.

The offerings provided or listed by the service providers may facilitatenegotiation of a binding contract between the service providers, theusers, and the buyers for transfer of the offerings from the serviceproviders to the users, wherein the binding contracts define a paymentterm, and wherein the payment term may include prices andseller-financing terms including payments to be made by the serviceprovider or the seller to the buyer over a period of time etc.

In an embodiment, the marketplace network 100 may facilitate anautomated on-line selling service mechanism by placing productpromotional materials in on-line locations where targeted users arelikely to encounter them so that a service provider system 106 a maytrack records of previous purchases made by the users and the onlineplatforms 100 (also referred to as the marketplace) frequently visitedby the user systems 102. Based on user search information and trackrecords, the service provider system 106 a may target online platformsvisited frequently by a user system or user and post the targetedproduct or service dynamically on the platform for promotional purposes.The automated and dynamic promotion of the targeted products/servicesfor the targeted user system 102 a may help in the overall developmentof the marketplace network 100 by reducing customer acquisition cost andan increase in sale. Customer acquisition cost reduction may be achievedby broadcasting products at targeted places, which deliver high volumeand targeted traffic and thereby continually improve sellingeffectiveness.

The online marketplace network 100 may include a two-way payment system(shown in FIG. 3) enabled through a payment gateway, which will bediscussed later. A buyer system 104 a herein may want to buy user dataassociated with a pre-consented user and pay the service provider whotransact with the user system 102 a on behalf of the user for theservices and products bought by the consented user in return of the dataof the user (user data). A buyer associated with the buyer system 104 amay pay full-service charges or a portion of the service chargesdepending upon the worth of the user data.

The marketplace network 100 may provide a comprehensive, graphical meansby which the users can evaluate services for sale by the serviceproviders including such as healthcare services etc without limitations,view historical transactions, and evaluate a broad level of data relatedto service transactions. Further, analytical tools may be provided toallow the users to query various data sources to find services as neededby the users in the marketplace network 100 by such service providerswho allow transactions through a particular payment process involvingtransactions of the user data as will be discussed later in conjunctionwith various figures. For example, not all the service providers mayaccept the user data in return of the services as an equivalent tocurrency. But there will be some service providers who will be ready todo transactions through the user data for selling their service. Themarketplace network 100 may allow finding such service providers andtheir services through a search engine enabled through the marketplaceserver 110.

In some embodiments, the marketplace network 100 may provide the userswith valuable data that may be aggregated based on user trends and pasttransactions for the users. The service providers may also, for example,see how many users have viewed their service details, how many haveindicated an interest in their services, and so on, in order to drivemarketplace recommendations and growth that is enabled with the userdata as a worth for transacting for delivery and receipt of theservices.

In embodiments, the valuable data generated in the marketplace network100 can also be used for targeted advertising. For example, if a user inthe marketplace network 100 is viewing a service, the marketplacenetwork 100 might show an advertisement for related service or suitableservice providers to the user.

Some embodiments of the marketplace network 100 may provide a mechanismwhereby the service providers may pay through the user data (of theconsented users) to various entities such as the buyers of the data topromote services or products within the marketplace network 100. Forexample, an agent may pay an advertising fee to elevate the visibilityof that agent within the result set of a given agent search. A serviceprovider may pay a fee to a buyer (who accept data instead ofconventional currency) in the form of certain computer-executable filesthat store the consented users data to elevate the visibility of a givenservice within the result set of a given service search. In such ascenario each such file containing the user data may be defined for itsequivalent worth in terms of certain transactional value so that theuser data that has been approved for sharing with others by the owners(herein the users) of the data may drive marketplace transactions as analternative currency for the marketplace network 100.

In an example, a person may avail healthcare or financial or otherservices from a service provider in return of his/her diagnostic reportsto be shared to the service provider for its right to sell them to abuyer whenever the diagnostic reports are available after a few days.

FIG. 2, with reference to FIG. 1, illustrates a block diagram of asystem 200 for authorization of data usage and/or sharing of datacorresponding to a user associated with such as the user system 102 a bya service provider or a service provider system 106 a, who are connectedover the marketplace network 100 as marketplace participants through thenetwork 108, in exchange of one or more services purchased and/ordelivered to the user by the service provider. In an embodiment, whilethe service may be delivered online or offline, but at least one step ofthe transaction may happen online through the marketplace network 100.As shown in FIG. 2, in an example, the system 200 may include the usersystem 102 a associated with the user, the service provider system 106 aassociated with the service provider, a third party system 202associated with a third party such as an insurance agency (and the likewithout limitations), and a buyer system 106 a associated with a buyer.However, the marketplace network 100 may include a plurality of suchparticipants connected through the network 108. The system 200 mayfurther include the cloud-based central controlling system 112 and apre-consenting device 204.

In an exemplary scenario, when the user system 102 a shortlists aservice provider from among the service providers listed in themarketplace network 100 who accept certain types of authorized data inreturn of a service delivery and submits a request for a servicedelivery to the service provider system 106 a through the marketplacenetwork 100, the service provider system 106 a associated with theservice provider may in turn generate a request for the user system 102a to provide a user consent for usage of the user data (referred to asdata simply interchangeably without limitations) through thepre-consenting device 204 which records the response of the user system102 a and acts accordingly. The pre-consenting device 204 is discussedlater.

If the user system 102 a provides the user consent (also referred to asconsent without limitations) to the service provider system 106 a, theservice provider system 106 a may process user details along withauthorization details and submit them to the cloud-based centralcontrolling system 112.

In an example, the service provider system 106 a may interact with thebuyer system 104 a via the central controlling system 112 to evaluateuser data worth (also referred to as value of the user data ortransactional value of the user data) and inform the user system 102 aaccordingly. In an example, the service provider system 106 a mayinteract only with the cloud-based central controlling system 112 toevaluate the user data worth and inform the user system 102 aaccordingly without any direct data exchange or communication with thebuyer system 104 a. The user data worth may be calculated based on apredefined set of criteria (also referred to as digitally recognizabledata valuation parameters) specified by the buyer system 104 a or theservice provider system 106 a for a set of entities and attributes sothat delivery of the services can be defined in terms of transactionalvalues payable through the user data by the user upon authorization viathe pre-consenting system 204 and executable through an executable inputinterface provided by the marketplace network 100.

The entities and attributes are terms defined with respect to datamodels herein. For example, a person, organization, event, etc. may beconsidered as an entity and corresponding information fields for anentity such as a state, person's behavior and methods (if any) relatedto the entity are considered as its attributes. For example, if a personis an entity in a particular scenario, the data fields related to theperson such as address, company the person works in, education of theperson, etc. are respective attributes of the entity (person).

The buyer system 104 a may be configured to communicate with thecloud-based central controlling system 112 (also referred to ascontrolling system 112 for the purpose of simplicity withoutlimitations) to submit information stored as computer-executable filesin the controlling system 112 such that the information may beindicative of buyer interests for a plurality of data types andrespective worth in terms of transactional values for purchase over thedigital network 108 enabling the marketplace network 100 throughappropriate digital authorization by data owners, herein the user system102 a or the user. In an example, the computer-executable files maystore information pertinent to certain data types the buyer system 104 amay want to approve digitally or may be interested in for purchase(called approved data types), data worth for each of the approved datatypes, authorization parameters that is criteria defining what datatypes matter or count valuable to the buyer system, data owner detailsand the like without limitations. The approved data types may beindicative of the data buyer interests in certain entities and types ofattributes associated with the entities.

In an embodiment, the buyer system 104 a or the buyer may be anyparticipant in the marketplace network 100 who is interested inpurchasing the consented data of the user either directly through themarketplace or via the service provider system 106 a.

The transactional value of the attributes may differ depending on buyerpreferences and valuation criteria for the attributes and the datatypes. For example, a buyer may approve medical reports for digitalpurchases; a loan provider may approve bank statements or other economicdata and so on. In an example, the buyer system 104 a may define theworth of each type of data it may be interested in on the basis of perentity per attribute basis while the value of the attribute may differfrom one buyer system to another other buyer system. The buyer system104 a may approve a variety of data types, and each type of data (ordata type) may be evaluated for its worth based on the specifiedcriteria. For example, three entities with each of two attributes may bemore valuable than one entity and two attributes.

The service provider system 106 a may be configured to communicate theuser data (authorized for sharing by the user) to the controlling system112 which may then transfer the authorized data to the buyer system 104a or may make a promise to transfer the data to the buyer system 104 aor the controlling system 112 depending on the availability of the datafrom the user. In an example, when the data is available, the serviceprovider who is already authorized by the user for sharing the user datato the buyer system 104 a or anyone else or keep it with it can submitthe data to the buyer system 104 a directly or through the cloud-basedcentral controlling system 112 which stores the user data received fromthe service provider system 106 a when it is available.

The service provider system 106 a may also interact with the third partysystem 202 such as the insurance agency (and the like withoutlimitations) to calculate the billable transactional value for theservices delivered by the service provider as per a user service plansuch as a co-pay insurance program. Further, any service charge billedto the user against the delivered services may be paid in the form ofthe data which is converted into the equivalent transactional valuebased on calculation of the data worth for the user data authorized forsharing with the buyer system 104 a by the service provider system 106 aand the amount of data defined as number of entities and number ofattributed per entity.

In an example, if the user system 102 a gives the user consent to theservice provider system 106 a, the service provider system 106 a mayinteract with the buyer system 104 a via the central controlling system112 and evaluate the user data worth (also referred to as value of theuser data) and inform the user system 102 a accordingly. The serviceprovider system 106 a may then transmit the user data to a centralrepository such as an electronic medical record (EMR) system 316 (shownin FIG. 3). The user data may then be allowed to be accessed orextracted for use by the buyer system 104 a right after theauthorization or may be promised to make a submission to transmit orshare the user data to the buyer system 104 a or the controlling system112 for extraction by the buyer system 104 a from the centralcontrolling system 112 depending on the availability of the data. In anexample, the controlling system 112 may be included as an integral partof the marketplace server 110. In an example, the controlling system 112may be a separate device and communicatively coupled with themarketplace server 110.

In an example, the user system 102 a may be configured as a system or acomputing device which is capable of communicating and providing theuser consent to the service provider system 106 a in the form of avariety of ways. For example, the user system 102 a may be configured toprovide the consent through a Short Message Service component (SMS), anaudio signal, a video signal, a finger print identifier or in any otherdigitally readable form without limitations that may be input by theuser through an interface enabled by the marketplace network 100platform or by the user system 102 a.

In an example, the user system 102 a (or the marketplace platform) mayinclude an installable application 206 that may be downloaded within theuser system 102 a by the user. In an example, the user system 102 a mayinclude a graphical user interface (GUI) 208 for operating various menuoptions and widgets for allowing to perform a variety of tasks causingthe user system 102 a to interact with the service provider system 106 aincluding such as the authorization for accessing and/or using the userdata for further selling or sharing to such as the buyer system 104 a.In an example, the variety of tasks may include reviewing credentials ofthe buyer system 104 a through the graphical user interface 208 in theuser system 102 a and allowing or denying the authorization to theservice provider system 106 a for data usage rights by the buyer system104 a at least in part. In an example, the user system 102 a may beallowed to define criteria for auto-authorization of certain data typesfor certain types of buyers so that whenever the data is available forthe user, the service provider may automatically determine itsapplicability for authorization based on the criteria defined andaccordingly utilize it for submission to the controlling system 112 orthe buyer system 104 a. In an example, the user may be allowed toprovide authorization without even knowing the details of the buyer, inwhich case the authorized data can be sold to anyone in the marketplacenetwork 100 who is interested in it by the service provider. Anotification may be generated for the user to verify once before a finalrelease of the data in some examples.

In some embodiments, the data of the user may not be of a fixed valuebut may operate according to a bidding facility enabled by themarketplace network 100 such that bidders including such as the buyersmay bid for the data and accordingly decide its worth. In an embodiment,the value and worth of the data may be defined based on how many buyersprovide similar types of services as transacted for the data and howmany buyers are willing to use the data against the delivery of theirservices. In some embodiments, the same data may be made open tomultiple buyers for use such that whoever use the data may have to firsttake a digital license for particular period of time and the useraccordingly receive a perpetual flow of virtual currency till the dataand from whosoever the data is being used. In this way, a regularearning keeps on flowing to the user against usage of the digital databy one or more of the networked participants in the marketplace network100. The marketplace network 100 may establish a formal and securedstructure for managing these digital transactions and value flows acrossthe participants.

In an example, the user system 102 a may be a mobile device, cell phone,laptop, desktop, or any other type of computer system capable ofexecuting programmable instructions etc. and configured to interact withthe marketplace network 100.

FIG. 3, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, illustrates a block diagram ofthe cloud-based central controlling system 112 interacting with thepre-consenting device 204, the service provider system 106 a, and theuser system 102 a. The controlling system 112 may include or be coupledto the cloud-based central data center (or data center) 120, anauthorization code collector 302, an authorization code verificationdevice 304, a data extraction device 306, and a data worth valuationdevice (data valuation device) 308. In an embodiment, all thesecomponents may be integrally included within the marketplace server 110wherein the controlling system 112 is part of the marketplace server110.

The cloud-based central data center 120 is configured as a centralrepository which may be used to store the data in the form ofcomputer-executable files. The central data center 120 stores the datain databases in a structured way into different data types to calculatethe data worth and for further transmission to the buyer system 104 a asand when requested from the buyer system 104 a or the service providersystem 106 a based on the authorization and the availability of the userdata stored digitally.

The authorization code collector 302 and the authorization codeverification device 304 may together perform verification of the userentity and/or the buyer entity and associate the authorized data alongwith the services delivered digitally to perform various processingtasks in order to successfully deliver the services to the user andsubmit the authorized data to the buyer system 104 a and/or the serviceprovider system 106 a and use the approved data as the transactionalvalue for a payment transaction through the marketplace network 100instead of making monetary payments for the services delivery. In anexample, the authorization code collector 302 and the authorization codeverification device 304 may be configured to verify the digital code (oridentifier) coming from the user system 102 a and from the serviceprovider system 106 a to indicate the service provider system 106 a thatthe user is ready to trade the user data against the services requestedby the user system 102 a to the service provider system 106 a.

The data extraction device 306 may be configured to pull the data fromthe service provider system 106 a or the controlling system-managedcentral data center 120 corresponding to the user that has beenauthorized for transaction by the user system 102 a. The pulled data isthen structured into the plurality of data types and is transmitted tothe central data center 120 for future actions/references and processingto be taken such as by the data value calculation device or datavaluation device 308 and the like. The data extraction device 306 mayalso be configured to extract data from the central data center 120stored in the form of the computer-executable files and transmit them tothe buyer system 104 a as and when requested or made available by theservice provider system 106 a. The data extraction device 306 may beconfigured to extract and supply to the buyer system 104 a or theservice provider system 106 a only those computer-executable files thatbelong to the user and contain the authorized data only. Any data fromother than the user who provided the consent and any data that is notauthorized by the user but belong to the user may be stored as separatecomputer-executable files or referenced separately so that it does notget extracted and supplied to the buyer system 104 a from the centraldata center 120.

The data worth calculation device or data valuation device 308 isconfigured to calculate the data worth based on the predefined criteriaand preferences provided by the buyer system 104 a and stored in a rulesengine 310 contained within the controlling system 112. The data worthvaluation device or data valuation device 308 may be configured tocalculate and assess the data worth by using a preset algorithm storedin the rules engine 310 which is governed by a set of rules (predefinedcriteria and preferences) provided by the buyer system 104 a.

In an example, the system 200 may be configured as a computer-controlledpayment system for facilitating seamless transactions from the usersystem 102 a to the buyer system 104 a through an intermediary systemsuch as the service provider system 106 a using the authorized data asthe transactional value for performing digital transactions instead ofthe currency enabled through the digital marketplace network 100 of theparticipants and their associated systems located at various remoteplaces globally. The marketplace server 110 may include or be coupled tothe marketplace interaction component 124 to generate an electronicsignal transmitted to the user system 102 a using a transmissioncircuit. The electronic signal may allow communication between the usersystem 102 a and the service provider system 106 a such that themarketplace interaction component 124 allows to collect predefinedinformation about the user system 102 a and the associated user. Thepredetermined information may include without limitations such as afirst computer-executable input indicative of an identifier of the usersystem 102 a and the associated user, and a second computer-executableinput indicative of a service sought for delivery in the service settingby the service provider. The service setting can be a physical placewhere the service provider and the user meet or an online transactionthrough the digital marketplace network 100 only.

The marketplace server 110 may include or be coupled to a payment engine312 for processing payments digitally based on the data worth associatedwith the data owned by the user and authorized for sharing by theservice provider to the buyer system 104 a. The payment engine 312 maybe configured to calculate a payable amount payable digitally by theuser to the service provider based on a first digital transactionalvalue indicative of a service charge for the service delivered digitallyby the service provider, a second digital transactional value indicativeof a predefined co-pay between the user and a co-pay entity such as thethird party (insurance agency), and a third digital transactional valueindicative of the data worth associated with the data owned by the userand authorized for sharing. As discussed above, the data worth may becalculated based on a set of predefined criteria specified by the buyerentity for a set of data types, data entities and data attributes by thedata valuation device 308 which may be coupled to the payment engine312.

The pre-consenting system 204 may be located remotely from the usersystems 102 in the service setting and may be configured to collect athird computer-executable input indicative of an authorization forsharing the data owned by the user at least in part toward the digitalpurchase of the service from the service provider by the user such thatthe data owned by the user (approved data) serves as the transactionalvalue for the digital purchase of the service as and when the data ismade available to the service provider system 106 a—right away duringthe payment transaction in terms of the approved data or at a latertime.

The pre-consenting system 204 may be further configured to generate atrigger that is initiated upon electronic receipt of the thirdcomputer-executable input by the pre-consenting system 204. The triggermay include a unique code referencing the user, the user system 102 aand the authorized data of the user for storage, processing, and sharingof the authorized data.

FIG. 4, with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3, illustrates a block diagramof a pre-consenting device such as the pre-consenting device 204 shownin FIG. 2. The pre-consenting device 204 includes a communicationcircuit 402 and a processing circuit 404. The processing circuit 404 mayfurther include a data recognition device 406, an audio signalrecognition device 408, a video signal recognition device 410, afingerprint recognition device 412, other uniquely identifiable inputrecognition device 414, a memory circuit 416 and a unique code generator418. In an example, the pre-consenting device 204 be coupled to orincluded as an integral part of the marketplace server 110.

The processing circuit 404 may be configured to process the data comingfrom the user systems 102 as a response to the request made by theservice provider system 106 a for the authorization of the data usageagainst the service charge provided by the service provider system 106 ainstead of paying with cash or other form of conventional currencyeither digitally or non-digitally. In another scenario, the user systems102 may voluntarily authorize the service provider system 106 a to usethe data against the services instead of waiting for the request fromthe service provider.

The unique code generator 418 may be configured to generate a uniquecode (identifier) for the user systems 102 (such as the unique codementioned above created when the trigger is initiated) by recognizingthe user systems 102 response with the help of various recognitiondevices present in the pre-consenting device 204 as mentioned anddiscussed later below. In an example, the unique code generator 418 maybe programmed to generate a random number or a checksum or acryptographic code using randomization function or checksum function orcryptographic hash function accordingly. The unique code generated maybe used as the user systems 102 identifier for any future transaction orprocessing or referencing. The user systems 102 may use the unique codeas an authorization token for the usage of user data against theservices provided by the service provider system 106 a instead of payingwith currency.

The communication circuit 402 may be configured to establish acommunication channel to and from the pre-consenting device 204 and/orthe service provider system 106 a. The communication circuit 402 mayallow communication between different systems as shown in the FIGS. 1through 4 by establishing either a physical transmission medium or alogical connection over a multiplexed medium such as a radio channel intelecommunications and computer networking or any other modes withoutlimitations. Communication circuits are characterized by specificstandard criteria, such as the frequency bandwidth and informationtransmission rate, etc.

The data recognition device 406 in the processing circuit 404 of thepre-consenting device 204 may be configured to recognize and captureunique data (information) about the user systems 102 and the user, theauthorization response is coming from. The data recognition device 406may be any programmable electronics device which recognizes and capturesthe basic information such as phone number, email address etc.associated with the user systems 102 or the user and serve as an inputfor initializing payment methods according to embodiments.

In an example, the authorization from the user systems 102 may arrive inthe form of an SMS (Short Messaging Service Component). The datarecognition device 406 may recognize the phone number of the device usedfor sending the SMS and store it somewhere in an internal memory or aseparate memory circuit 416. The phone number may directly betransmitted to the service provider system 106 a which may be used as aproof of consent or the unique code generator 418 may generate a uniquecode such as the code mentioned above for the associated phone numberwhich may be used as the authorization token for the user systems 102for usage/sharing of the approved data against the services provided bythe service provider system 106 a in return of the authorized datainstead of paying with currency digitally or non-digitally.

In an example, the user systems 102 may provide the user consent throughemail. The service provider system 106 a may use the email address as aproof of consent after verification or may route it to the unique codegenerator 418 to generate the unique code which may be associated withthe user systems 102 as the authorization token for the usage of dataagainst the services provided by the service provider system 106 ainstead of paying with conventional currency forms digitally ornon-digitally.

The audio signal recognition device 408 may be configured to recognizean audio signal coming from the user systems 102. The recognitionprocess may be performed by using statistical models that may output asequence of symbol or quantities by breaking the input audio signal intopiecewise stationary signal and comparing them with piecewise stationarysignals of the audio signal present in the service provider system 106 ain a database such as the central data center 120. In another scenario,the recognition device may convert the audio signal coming from the usersystems 102 into textual form and transmit it to the controlling system112 through the communication circuit 402 which may use it as token ofconsent to use the user data as the transactional value for the digitalpurchase and delivery of the services.

The video signal recognition device or video recognition device 410 maybe configured to recognize a video signal coming from the user systems102. The recognition process may be performed by using statisticalmodels that may output a sequence of symbol or quantities by breakingthe input video signal into piecewise stationary signal and comparingthem with piecewise stationary signals of the audio signal present inthe service provider system 106 a in a database such as the central datacenter 120, in an embodiment. In one scenario, the video recognitiondevice 410 may convert the video signal coming from the user systems 102into textual form and transmit it to the controlling system 112 throughthe communication circuit 402 which may use it as token of consent touse the user data as the transactional value for the digital purchaseand delivery of the services.

In an exemplary embodiment, the pre-consenting device 204 may beconfigured as a programmable RF (radio frequency) device reader withoutlimitations which may be configured to capture the user systems 102response and record it for later use as the authorization input. Thepre-consenting device 204 may be programmed to generate a random numberor a checksum or a cryptographic code using randomization function orchecksum function or cryptographic hash function accordingly. Thecryptographic code (say the authorization token) may then be transmittedby the pre-consenting device 204 to the service provider system 106 aand to the controlling system 112.

FIG. 5, with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4, illustrates a blockchaincomputer architecture of the system 200 of FIG. 2 enabled through themarketplace network 100 along with other systems and components inaccordance with an embodiment herein. More particularly, FIG. 5illustrates an exemplary blockchain configured ecosystem architecture500 containing one or more components of the system 200 as discussed inconjunction with FIG. 2 for operating the marketplace network 100, andalso contains additional components so as to allow integrity oftransactions and the data processed during the service delivery asdiscussed above. The blockchain configured ecosystem architecture 500may provide a crowdsourced integrity network for storing the dataauthorized for sharing by a user along with other users and servicedetails instead of locally stored information by different participantsthat may be tempered.

The ecosystem architecture 500 may be blockchain configured involvingvarious blockchain devices. For example, the user system 102 a, serviceprovider system 106 a, and the buyer system 104 a may all interact witha blockchain device 502 through a plurality of blockchain configureddistributed access points 504 over the marketplace network 100configured for blockchain capabilities. A network that facilitatesinteraction across all components may be a blockchain integrity network.The blockchain network may build trust among the various participants orentities and their associated computing terminals or devices even if thedevices/terminals etc. may not know one another. The blockchain networkmay allow connections and transactions and recording and sharing of thedata and various codes/token generated during an entire transactionincluding service tokens and authorization tokens in a trusted mode. Arecord of transactions and sharing and data from variousterminals/devices stored on the blockchain in the form ofcomputer-executable distributed ledgers 506 may provide proof to commandthe necessary trust among the terminals/devices (such as thoseassociated with various participants including a first entity 508 suchas the user, a second entity 510 such as the service provider, and athird entity 512 such as the buyer) to cooperate through a peer-to-peeror peer-to-client distributed digital ledger technology over themarketplace network 100. The ecosystem architecture 500 may include adistributed trusted ledgers system 514 containing the distributedblockchain ledgers 506 associated with a plurality of computingterminals and devices such that each ledger stores a copy ofcomputer-executable files 516 containing the authorized datacorresponding to the user for the service delivery and the trust notesfor defining security and trust among the computing terminals anddevices across the network so that each computing terminal trusts theother computing terminal through the blockchain. The distributed trustedledgers system 514 enables coding of rules-based contracts that executewhen specified conditions are met. The distributed blockchain ledgers506 make it easier to create cost-efficient networks where any device orany evidence associated with a service delivery or data authorization orpayment transaction may be tracked, without requiring a central point ofcontrol.

The various computing terminals or devices in the network serve asdistributed peer-to-peer nodes and connections. The payment engine 312may serve as a client device configured to perform the task ofprocessing payments through the blockchain network over the marketplacenetwork 100 based on the rules as defined based on the calculated worthof the data and the service charge and other details as necessary anddefined by the rules engine 310. Each terminal/device/node in theecosystem architecture 500, etc. may get a copy of the blockchain whichmay get downloaded automatically upon joining the blockchain integritynetwork. Every node or the device in the network is an administrator ofthe blockchain, and may join the network voluntarily so that the networkis decentralized.

The blockchain may eliminate the risks that come with data being heldcentrally by storing data across the network which may include thecomputer-executable files containing the authorized data and/or thevarious tokens/codes including payment transaction codes. The blockchainsecurity uses encryption technology and validation mechanisms forsecurity and integrity verification. The security may be enabled throughpublic and private keys. A public key may define a user's address on theblockchain. The private key may give its owner an access to variousdigital assets in the network.

In an embodiment, the distributed blockchain ledgers 506 may enablecoding of smart contracts within the marketplace network 100 that willexecute when specified conditions are met. These smart contracts mayprotect various information pieces associated with the servicedeliveries and payment transactions and data processing/storage andeliminate the risk of files copying and redistribution withoutprotecting privacy rights over the marketplace.

The blockchain configured ecosystem architecture 500 may provide aprivate view for the various devices and the entities operating in thenetwork through the private data store 518 so that each such device mayprivately access the computer-executable files 516 associated with aservice delivery based on various policies such as based on theirrespective identities. Each of the devices may access thecomputer-executable files 516 through the dedicated private store 518available through the plurality of distributed blockchain configuredaccess points 504 which may be enabled in the form of distributed blocksas shown in FIG. 5, with each block providing a facility to access thefeatures of the blockchain configured ecosystem architecture 500 bydifferent terminals and devices at the same time based on defined andgranted access rights.

The private data store 518 may provide a virtual storage to facilitateinteraction, information exchange, reviewing, and presentation of thecomputer-executable files 516. For example, the private data store 518may allow a virtual storage and presentation of only limited executablefiles or portions of the executable files for access by particular nodesin accordance with permissions granted for reviewing. The private datastore 518 may be configured to auto-hash review interactions at anyrequired interval. This compartmentalization of the computer-executablefiles 516 ensures that the computer-executable files 516 are secured andprivate as per access rights authorized to the nodes. The data presentedon the private data store 518 of the blockchain serves as a secure wayto ensure that the private data store 518 is in sync with anypermissioned access.

In embodiment, the user system 102 a, the service provider system 106 a,and the buyer system 104 a may be allowed to access discrete portions ofdata elements including the computer-executable instructions storedwithin the blockchain device 502 based on access rights throughrespective blockchain access points such that an access to the dataelements allows one or more of viewing, locally replicating, anddigitally sharing the data elements at least in part.

In an embodiment, the blockchain configured digital ecosystemarchitecture 500 may provide a federated blockchain comprising ofseveral entities/participants within the marketplace network 100 andtheir associated computers and devices and sensors that jointly interactto process transfers of data through a trusted, secured and distributednetwork of the blockchain configured access points 504.

In accordance with various embodiments, the service setting may bedefined based on various parameters. For examples, the service settingmay be defined by a particular geo-location such as through latitude andlongitude values. In an embodiment, the service setting may be definedthrough geo-fencing. Geo-fencing (geofencing) may allow a softwareprogram and associated hardware to use a global positioning system (GPS)or radio frequency identification (RFID) device to define geographicalboundaries that may be indicative of the service setting.

Geo-fencing may allow an administrator to set up triggers so that when adevice such as the user system enters (or exits) the boundaries definedby the administrator through geo-fencing, an alert may be generated orthe trigger may be generated for initiation or closing of the service.

In an embodiment, the service setting may be defined based on either ofthe first entity and the second entity to be proximate to the otherentity. The proximity may be associated by pre-defined locationcoordinates or geographical barriers or distance values. For example, ifan entity enters within a radius of 30 yards of the other entity, thetwo entities may be considered proximate enough to be considered withinthe service setting at the same time. The geographical boundary in thiscase may be a 30-yard radius, as an example. The service setting in thiscase may be identified by either of the entities to enter within thegeographical boundary. For example, if one entity moves proximate to theother entity, the service setting may be defined. The service settingmay be defined as long as both the entities are within the geographicalboundary in accordance with the pre-defined location coordinates or thegeographical barriers or the distance values.

In an embodiment, the service setting may be defined only over themarketplace network in a digital format such that the services can bepurchased and delivered through the marketplace network 100 platformonline without any need of visiting a service facility in personphysically. In such cases, the service setting may need not be definedas a physical location.

In an embodiment, the service setting may be defined over themarketplace network 100 in a digital format such that the services canbe booked through the marketplace network 100 online but can be availedby visiting a service facility in person physically.

In an example, the various participant systems in the marketplacenetwork are in communication with one another over a peer-to-peercommunication network that maintains the decentralized blockchainledgers 506 for tracking and recording the transactional exchanges andownership trails. Each of the participant systems may include at leastone processing circuit and at least one physical storage medium thatstores at least a portion of the decentralized blockchain ledgers 506comprising a distributed database or private data store 518 to recordtransactional information associated with a transactional exchange thatoccur on the peer-to-peer communication network between at least two ofthe participants systems.

FIG. 6, with reference to FIGS. 1 through 5, illustrates a block diagramof an exemplary blockchain device such as the blockchain device 502. Theblockchain device 502 is configured to automatically storecomputer-executable instructions such as the digitally executable tokenspertaining to authorization and payment as discussed above transactedover the marketplace network 100 by one or more of the participantsconnected over the marketplace network 100.

The blockchain device 502 may include a processing device 602 and atransmitting device 604 that each is capable of blockchain integrationunlike generic devices. The processing device 602 may process allblockchain tasks through computer-controlled software and hardwaretools. The transmitting device 604 can allow transmission of informationsuch as the computer-executable files from the central data center 120which may be configured as a blockchain database 606 to the buyer system104 a or the controlling system 112 based on permissions and accessrights. The transmitting device 604 may also enable various types ofcommunication with other systems.

The blockchain device 502 also includes hardware 608. The hardware 608may comprise a specific blockchain-enabled server device 610 and a smartdevice 612 running a specific dedicated software application. The smartdevice 612 is configured to engage in specific communication with theblockchain-enabled server device 610. The smart device 612 is configuredto receive inputs from the user and generate transaction identifiersbased on the received inputs such that the transaction identifiersenable processing and generating of a smart contract 614 within theblockchain that may involve authorization and payment processing withoutlimitations based on the services delivered as well as the worth of theauthorized data. The smart contract 614 cannot be tampered with from anysort of vulnerability within the blockchain. The smart device 612 may becoupled to a user interface that allows the user to input details.

The blockchain-enabled server device 610 performs tasks enablingcommunication with the smart device 612. The blockchain-enabled serverdevice 610 further performs at least one of these tasks: storage of atleast one database or a portion thereof and/or data for placementtherein in the blockchain database 606, access the at least one databaseincluding the blockchain database 606, update the at least one databaseincluding the blockchain database 606, allow the smart device 612 toaccess and receive information in whole or in part from the at least onedatabase. In some embodiments, the at least one database such as theblockchain database 606 may contain at least one unique hash, at leastone timestamp of the at least one unique hash, and/or other data forgenerating the smart contract 614.

The transmitting device 604 may allow transmission of at least one hashfile and/or hash blockchain to the blockchain-enabled server device 610.The transmitting device 604 may further allow receiving a transactionconfirmation and/or identifier from the smart device 612, creating ahash file and/or hash blockchain from the digital data and/or digitalcontent, receiving the hash file and/or hash blockchain and thetimestamp from the smart device 612. The processing device 602 maycompare the hash file and/or hash blockchain to other verificationinformation for verifying authenticity of a variety of informationflowing across the marketplace network 100.

The processing device 602 may generate a network identifier 616, atransaction identifier 618, and a blockchain address identifier 620 tospecify a particular transaction in the marketplace network 100 thatinvolves such as receipt of a service associated with the user, enablinga payment corresponding to a service, submitting a workflow task,receiving responses for a particular workflow task of the service andother types of transactions. Each set of identifiers define a specificmarketplace network 100 transaction indicated through a digital contractsuch as the smart contract 614 and cannot be tampered. The smartcontract 614 allows tracing evidence of the transactions for anyparticular task. In an embodiment, the processing device 602 isconfigured to cause the smart contract 614 to be generated based on thenetwork identifier 616, transaction identifier 618, and the blockchainaddress identifier 620 such that the smart contract 614 is configured toautomatically validate a transaction using a special key associated witha user or a transaction.

A transaction message 622 may be generated by the processing device 602to inform respective users. In an embodiment, the transaction message622 may be associated with one or more secured hashlinks so that thetransaction message is generated when the one or more secured hashlinksare activated.

The processing device 602 may generate the network identifier 616 thatmay be associated with the blockchain and the transaction ID(identifier) 618. The processing device 602 may generate the blockchainaddress identifier 620 using at least a unique key and one or morehashing codes associated with the respective user.

In an embodiment, the blockchain address identifier 620 may be based ona public key corresponding to a private key that was used to registerthe transaction on the blockchain such that the public key and theprivate key are part of a public/private key pair associated with themarketplace network 100 transaction (alternatively referred to astransaction) indicative of the execution of a particular workflow taskof the service.

In an embodiment, the processing device 602 may generate the transactionmessage 622 based on one or more standards and includes a plurality ofdata elements, including at least a first data element configured tostore a proof of transaction as the evidence reserved for private useupon request for verification by respective associated users. The use ofevidence privately is indicative of a controlled and secured access ofthe evidence only to authorized users.

The blockchain device 502 may include or is coupled to the rules engine310 that defines and facilitates processing of a set ofcomputer-executable rules defining instructions for verification ofidentity information of the user system 102 a and the associated user.The computer-executable rules may allow verifying identity of the userand the user system 102 a. The rules engine 310 may include or becoupled to a memory circuit, a processing circuit, integrated circuits,chipsets, and rules translators (not shown). The rules engine 310includes at least one rule that allows identifying the user andverification information of the user to consider authorization for thedata owned by the user for sharing with the buyer system 104 a. Theblockchain device 502 may be accessed through an interactive graphicaluser interface such as the GUI 208 for interactions and engagement.

In an example, the marketplace server 110 may function as a merchantacquisition system for facilitating acquisition of an item or a servicesuch as the service discussed above in the digital marketplace network100. An exemplary merchant acquisition system 702 shown in FIG. 7, withreference to FIGS. 1 through 6, includes a merchant server 704communicatively coupled and associated with a service provider systemsuch as the service provider system 106 a. The merchant server 704comprises a processor 706 and a physical storage medium 708 that storesmerchandise information and transactional information associated withthe service provider system 106 a. The processor 706 may be configuredto define a set of digitally recognizable data valuation parameters forone or more entities and attributes associated with tradable dataoriginally stored at a user system such as the user system 102 aremotely located from the merchant server 704. The processor 706 maypublish the set of digitally recognizable data valuation parametersdefined by the service provider system 106 a in the marketplace networkalong with digitally listed one or more offerings such as the offeringsdiscussed above. The processor 706 may allow transacting for an offeringwith a user participant associated with the user system 102 a with dataownership transfer for the data at least in part owned originally by theuser participant and valued at a transactional value no less than valueof the offering calculated in accordance with the set of digitallyrecognizable data valuation parameters defined by the service providersystem 106 a.

The merchant acquisition system 702 may include or be coupled to a buyerserver 710 (similar to the buyer server 128) located remotely from andcommunicatively coupled with the merchant server 704. The buyer server710 may be associated with a respective buyer participant, such that thetransactional value for the offering is defined by the merchant server704 based on an input received from the buyer server 710. An ownershiptrail of the data ownership transfer for the data at least in partincludes at least a transfer of the ownership from the user participantto the service provider participant, and from the service providerparticipant to the buyer participant either in real-time or deferred fora later time than when the acquisition of the item is performed. In anembodiment, the service provider participant may itself be a consumer orpurchaser of the tradeable date such that it may function as a buyerparticipant and may define all guidelines that otherwise a buyerparticipant does.

The merchant server 704, the buyer server 710, and the user system 102 aare in communication with one another over a peer-to-peer communicationnetwork that maintains a decentralized blockchain ledger similar to theledger discussed above for tracking and recording the acquisition of theitem and the ownership trail. Each of the merchant server 704, the buyerserver 710, and the user system 102 a each includes at least oneprocessing circuit and at least one physical storage medium that storesat least a portion of the decentralized blockchain ledger comprising adistributed database to record acquisition information associated withthe acquisition of the item that occur on the peer-to-peer communicationnetwork between at least two of the merchant server 704, the buyerserver 710, and the user system 102 a.

In the marketplace network 100, there can be an arbitrarily large numberof merchant servers similar to merchant server 704 associated withrespective service provider systems 106, each publishing one or moredigital offerings in the marketplace network 100 tradable in return ofownership transfer of one or more data files from an arbitrarily largenumber of computer-executable data files. Each of thecomputer-executable data files is owned originally by a user participantfrom an arbitrarily large number of user participants associated withrespective user systems 102 and communicating with one or more of themerchant servers over the marketplace network.

The merchant server 704 may enable a cryptographic wallet 712 to reflectequivalent transactional value of the computer-executable data filesowned originally by the user participant and marked by the userparticipant for trading in the marketplace network 100. The one or morecomputer-executable data files include the tradable data that may betransacted in return of the offerings.

The cryptographic wallet 712 may provide one or more acquisition-drivensmart contracts such as the smart contracts discussed above that enablesecurity of the transactional information among various transactingparticipants. The cryptographic wallet 712 may be configured to appendblocks to the decentralized blockchain ledger 506 with every acquisitionwhich may enable recording of the transactional information across manysystems associated with the network participants so that any involvedinformation cannot be altered.

In an example, the acquisition of the item may include delivery of theoffering or the service to the user participant by the merchant server704 and transferring of the data to the merchant server 704 by the usersystem 102 a at the time of the acquisition. The transferring of thedata to the merchant server 704 may include modifying access privilegesfor the merchant server 704 so as to allow the data to be accessed bythe merchant server 704, and/or sharing access credentials of a securedrepository containing the data to the merchant server 704 for allowingaccess to the data by the merchant server 704.

In an example, completion of the entire transaction may be deferred to alater time. For example, the delivery of the offering to the userparticipant by the merchant server 704 may occur at the time ofacquisition of the item and the transferring of the data to the merchantserver 704 may be delayed by the user participant system for a laterspecified time depending on availability of the data with the userparticipant system.

In an example, the set digitally recognizable data valuation parametersmay include parameters such as type of the data, length of the data,source of the data, number of entities contained in the data, and numberof attributes associated with each of the entities and the like.

FIG. 8, with reference to FIGS. 1 through 7, illustrates generally, butnot by way of limitation, among other things, a scenario in whichvarious participants of the marketplace network 100 may interact inaccordance with an embodiment so as to record evidence of a servicedelivery. This is particularly important when the service is availed atone time, but the data transfer or data rights ownership transferhappens later due to non-availability of data at the time of servicedelivery. The marketplace network 100 may be a digital marketplace in anembodiment. In some embodiments, the marketplace network 100 may involvea physical setting for allowing one or more participants to interactphysically. In accordance with various embodiments, a variety of servicesettings may be employed for applying teachings of the embodimentsherein in various embodiments.

The first entity (referred to as the user) is associated with asmart-capability device such as a smart phone or a mobile phone or anyother device referred to as the user system 102 a and configured toperform certain functions as described herein. For the purposes ofdescribing the embodiments herein, a mobile communication device may beused as the user device or the user system 102 a associated with theuser in an embodiment without limitations.

The user system 102 a may be located proximate to the first entity (alsoreferred to as the user interchangeably). The second entity (referred toas the service provider interchangeably without limitations) may beassociated with the service provider system 106 a. The service providersystem 106 a may include one or more central servers 802, data stores804, and cloud-based computing components 806 for digitally managing andprocessing computer-controlled delivery of the services in the servicesetting by the service provider to the user associated with the usersystem 102 a or the user device 102 a in general.

In an embodiment, the service provider system 106 a may be configured asa cloud-based service provider system 106 a that may be connected withthe marketplace server 110 and/or the merchant server 704. Thecloud-based service provider system 106 a may further include a centralhub 808 to communicate over wired and wireless connections withdifferent elements of the service provider system 106 a and associateddata stores 804. The cloud-based service provider system 106 a includesa sensor 810 in wireless bi-directional communication with the centralhub 808 to allow sensing of various service delivery parameters. Thecloud-based service provider system 106 a may also include a computingdevice 812 in bi-directional communication with the central hub 808. Thecomputing device 812 may include a graphical user interface 814 to allowdisplay of data received from the sensor 810 and/or other electronicdevices such that the second entity or the user with permissions maycontrol the delivery of services through the graphical user interface814. The various devices and components of the service provider system106 a allow delivery of the services by the second entity to the firstentity in a computerized manner.

A plurality of wireless and/or wired communications that enablereal-time information sharing, constant availability, andinteroperability are used in the service setting for allowing deliveryof the services. Additionally, greater situational awareness isfacilitated to allow transparency through live video, voicecommunication, sensor, and location data information.

The embodiments herein allow recording of the evidence digitally in acomputer-executable format with the use of a computer-controlledevidence system 816 for automated recording of the evidence of theservice delivery within the service setting. The computer-controlledevidence system (also called as recording system interchangeably withoutlimitations) 816 may be coupled to the marketplace interaction component124 or the marketplace server 110, located remotely from the user system102 a, to collect predefined information about the user system 102 a andthe associated user networked over the marketplace network 100. In anembodiment, an evidence system similar to the computer-controlledevidence system 816 may be associated with or included within each ofthe service provider systems 106 so that when a service is deliveredwith respect to a particular service provider system, the associatedevidence system may record evidence accordingly.

The predefined information collected by the computer-controlled evidencesystem 816 or simply system 816 includes at least a firstcomputer-executable input indicative of an identifier of the user system102 a and the associated user, and a second computer-executable inputindicative of a service sought for delivery in the service setting bythe service provider system 106 a to the user system 102 a. For example,the identifier of the user system 102 a can be a unique code of the usersystem 102 a or a unique subscriber identity module or subscriberidentification module associated with the user system 102 a. A triggeris initiated by the computer-controlled evidence system 816 or theservice provider system 106 a upon receipt of the firstcomputer-executable input and the second computer-executable input fromthe user system 102 a. The trigger causes entry of a registration of aservice request in the service provider system 106 a for deliveryaccording to a set of defined service rules. In an embodiment, thetrigger can be generated, and the entry can be made automatically when arequest is booked form the marketplace network 100. The trigger may be asignal that causes initiation of a registration request or a submissionof a registration form for the user associated with the user system 102a and the like.

The trigger initiated upon receipt of the first computer-executableinput and the second computer-executable input may serve as aregistration request for the user and a registration request may beentered into the system of the service provider such as the serviceprovider system 106 a in a digital format accordingly. Registrationdetails may be sent to the user and the service provider through eitheran email or SMS or any other medium.

The computer-controlled evidence system 816 is coupled to themarketplace server 110. The computer-controlled evidence system 816generates an electronic signal that may be transmitted to the usersystem 102 a and the service provider system 106 a using a transmissioncircuit 818. The electronic signal may include and/or convey a firstshort message service component (first SMS) 820 and a second shortmessage service component (second SMS) 822. The request for theregistration may however be rejected if the service provider system 106a for example detects unauthorized use of the user system 102 a by anentity other than the user; e.g., through fingerprint or retinal scan,etc. Also, the user may terminate the registration request on the usersystem 102 a due to any number of reasons.

The computer-controlled evidence system 816 may generate the electronicsignal to send the first SMS to the user system 102 a when a trigger isactivated in the service setting that represents registration of arequest by the user for a predefined service. The first SMS 820 sent bythe computer-controlled evidence system 816 is indicative of start of aservice, in an embodiment. In an embodiment, the first SMS 820 mayindicate approval of the registration which leads to start of theservice.

In an embodiment, when the first SMS 820 is sent to the user system 102a, it may be considered as a signal that the service is ready fordelivery to the user but may not necessarily indicate completion of theservice. However, in some embodiments, the first SMS 820 can indicatethat the service was initiated and completed as well successfully. Insuch situations, a separate SMS for service delivery may not be sent tothe user system 102 a.

In embodiments, the computer-controlled evidence system 816 may send thesecond short message service component (SMS) 822 to the service providersystem 106 a upon activation of the trigger in the service setting. Thesecond SMS 822 is indicative of the start of the service and isconfigured to be sent to the service provider system 106 a unlike thefirst SMS 820 which is sent to the user system 102 a associated with theuser who seeks the service. In some embodiments, the first SMS 820 andthe second SMS 822 can be sent at the same time from thecomputer-controlled evidence system 816. In an embodiment, the serviceprovider system 106 a may control operation of the computer-controlledevidence system 816. In an embodiment, an external agency not related tothe service provider system 106 a can control the computer-controlledevidence system 816 for independence, reliability, and trustworthiness.In an embodiment, the marketplace network 100 may control functioning ofthe computer-controlled evidence system 816.

In an embodiment, the first SMS 820 contains a first secured hashlinkthat is executable by the user system 102 a or the associated user. Inan embodiment, the first secured hashlink may be sent separately and notwithin the first SMS 820. In such cases, the computer-controlledevidence system 816 may generate a separate signal so that the signalmay transmit the first secured hashlink to the user system 102 a forprocessing through any of the ways including through an SMS.

Executing the first secured hashlink such as by clicking the firstsecured hashlink may automatically record a first evidence of servicedelivery associated with the user system 102 a. The first evidence ofservice delivery (also referred to as service delivery evidence) can berecorded in a digital format as discussed herein.

In an embodiment, the second SMS 822 contains a second secured hashlinkthat is executable by the service provider system 106 a or an associatedservice delivery person or a user associated with the service providersystem 106 a. In an embodiment, the second secured hashlink may be sentseparately and not within the second SMS 822. In such cases, thecomputer-controlled evidence system 816 may generate a separate signalso that the signal may transmit the second secured hashlink to theservice provider system 106 a for processing through any of the waysincluding through an SMS.

Executing the second secured hashlink by the service provider system 106a or the associated user such as by clicking the second secured hashlinkmay automatically record a second evidence of the service deliveryassociated with the service provider system 106 a. The second evidenceof service delivery (also referred to as service delivery evidence) canbe recorded in a digital format.

Executing the second secured hashlink by the service provider system 106a can be performed in the way as explained above with respect toexecuting the first secured hashlink by the user system 102 a or theassociated user.

In accordance with various embodiments, the first evidence of servicedelivery and the second evidence of service delivery can be one or moreof an event, a digitally executable location input, a digitallyexecutable voice input, and a digitally executable picture (digitalimage).

The computer-controlled evidence system 816 may further send aconfirmation message in an electronic format along with a unique serviceproof token (SPT) to the user system 102 a and the service providersystem 106 a upon completion of the service delivery. In an embodiment,completion can be defined based on executing of the first securedhashlink and the second secured hashlink. However, in an embodiment, ifthe first secured hashlink and the second secured hashlink are definedfor start of the service only and not necessarily for servicecompletion, service delivery and its completion successfully may bedetermined based on another set of secured hashlinks that are sentthrough a third SMS to the user system 102 a and a fourth SMS to theservice provider system 106 a. The third SMS (not shown) may contain orbe separately associated with a third secured hashlink. Similarly, thefourth SMS (not shown) may contain or be separately associated with afourth secured hashlink. In such cases, end of the service and itssuccessful completion may be determined when the third secured hashlinkand the fourth secured hashlink are executed by the user system 102 aand the service provider system 106 a respectively or by respectiveusers.

When the first secured hashlink and the second secured hashlink and/orthe third secured hashlink and the fourth secured hashlink (if end ofservice is separately defined) are respectively executed by the usersystem 102 a and the service provider system 106 a, thecomputer-controlled evidence system 816 considers delivery of theservice to the user associated with the user system 102 a as complete.The computer-controlled evidence system 816 may generate a uniqueservice proof token (SPT) executable through digital modes and send itto the user system 102 a. This STP may be associated with the usersystem 102 a and is unique to the user system 102 a for the specifictransaction and service delivery. If the same user associated with thesame user system 102 a arrives again or initiates again in the servicesetting for a new service request, a new unique service proof token maybe generated.

The computer-controlled evidence system 816 may generate a second uniqueservice proof token (SPT) executable through digital modes and send itto the service provider system 106 a. This STP may be associated withthe service provider system 106 a and is unique to the service providersystem 106 a for the specific transaction and the service delivery. Boththe STP associated with the user system 102 a and the service providersystem 106 a are together indicative of completion and delivery of theservice by the service provider system 106 a to the user associated withthe user system 102 a in the service setting.

As discussed above, in an embodiment, two SPTs are generated—oneassociated with the user system 102 a and the other associated with theservice provider system 106 a. These SPTs signify the completion of theservice. In some embodiments, four SPTs may be generated as follows:

A first STP (SPT1) is generated that is associated with the user system102 a and represents start of the service. The SPT1 may be referred toas start of service proof token and signifies start of receipt of theservice by the user associated with the user system 102 a from theservice delivery entity or the second entity. The SPT1 is sent to theuser system 102 a.

A second SPT (SPT2) is generated that is associated with the user system102 a and represents end of the service. The SPT2 may be referred to asend of service proof token and signifies end and successful delivery ofthe service to the user associated with the user system 102 a by theservice delivery entity. The SPT2 is sent to the user system 102 a.

A third SPT (SPT3) is generated that is associated with the serviceprovider system 106 a and represents start of the service. The SPT3 maybe referred to as the start of service proof token and signifies startof the delivery of the service to the user associated with the usersystem 102 a by the service delivery entity. The SPT3 is sent to theservice provider system 106 a.

A fourth SPT (SPT4) is generated that is associated with the serviceprovider system 106 a and represents end of the service. The SPT4 may bereferred to as end of service proof token and signifies end andsuccessful delivery of the service to the user associated with the usersystem 102 a by the service delivery entity. The SPT4 is sent to theservice provider system 106 a.

In some embodiments, as discussed above, only two SPTs are generated andsent to the user system 102 a and the service provider system 106 arepresenting complete delivery and end of the service to the userassociated with the user system 102 a by the service provider system 106a associated with the service delivery entity. All SPTs are digitallyexecutable.

The computer-controlled evidence system 816 may be coupled to theblockchain device 502 as shown in FIG. 5 and may be configured toautomatically store computer-executable instructions such as thedigitally executable SPT associated with the user system 102 a and theservice provider system 106 a. For example, the blockchain device 502may store the SPT1, SPT2, SPT3, and SPT4. In embodiments where only twoSPTs are generated representing end of the service, the blockchaindevice 502 may store the two SPTs.

In embodiments, the four SPTs: SPT1, SPT2, SPT3, and SPT4 may representthe evidence of the service delivery along with the status of theservice delivery such as service start or service ending. In anembodiment, where only the two SPTs are generated, for example, when thefirst secured hashlink is activated by the user associated with the usersystem 102 a, the first evidence of the service delivery may be recordedwithin an SPT. The first evidence of the service delivery may indicatecompletion of the service and is associated with the user system 102 athat is the first SPT is sent to the user system 102 a. Similarly,another SPT (such as the SPT4 discussed above) may be sent to theservice provider system 106 a which may contain the second evidence ofthe service delivery, which is indicative of the service completelydelivered to the user by the service provider system. The SPTs (such assecond SPT and the fourth SPT) sent to the user system 102 a and theservice provider system 106 a respectively are sufficient to provewhether the services have been delivered entirely by the serviceprovider system 106 a to the user associated with the user system 102 aor not. This provides an evidence to link the data ownership transfer ata later time based on evidence review recorded at an earlier time by thecomputer-controlled evidence system 816. In an example, the ownershiptrail may be recorded to document the ownership transfer the moment theservice is delivered no matter whether the actual data is transferredthe same moment or promised for a later time. In some embodiments, theSPTs may include coded components that may represent the ownership trialand a change in the ownership of the tradable data so that the change inownership is immediately recorded in the blockchain through the SPTscollected as evidence irrespective of when the actual data is available.Therefore, by retrieving the SPTs from the blockchain device 502,delivery of the services can be proven by reading the coded andprotected ownership trail. This facilitates in making appropriatepayments and settling delivery of services that define paymenttransactions particularly when the consented data owned by the user istransferred to the buyer system or the service provider system at alater stage/time but the services to the user are delivered at anearlier time. Recording the delivery of the service can help identifyevidence as needed through various technical components and associatedembodiments enabling the marketplace network 100 and discussed herein.

In an embodiment, where the four SPTs are generated, for example, whenthe first secured hashlink is activated by the user associated with theuser system 102 a, a first evidence of the service delivery may berecorded within an SPT. The first evidence of the service delivery mayindicate the start of the service and is associated with the user system102 a that is the first SPT is sent to the user system 102 a.

A second evidence of the service delivery may be recorded within anotherSPT when the second secured hashlink is activated by the user associatedwith the user system 102 a. The second evidence of the service deliverymay indicate the end of the service and is associated with the usersystem 102 a that is the SPT is sent to the user system 102 a after theservice is complete.

A third evidence of the service delivery may be recorded within an SPTsuch as the SPT3 discussed above when the third secured hashlink isactivated by the user associated with the service provider system 106 a.The third evidence of the service delivery may indicate the start of theservice and is associated with the service provider system 106 a that isthe third SPT is sent to the service provider system 106 a after theservice starts.

A fourth evidence of the service delivery may be recorded within an SPTsuch as the SPT4 discussed above when the fourth secured hashlink isactivated by the user associated with the service provider system 106 a.The fourth evidence of the service delivery may indicate the end of theservice and is associated with the service provider system 106 a that isthe fourth SPT is sent to the service provider system 106 a after theservice is complete.

In an embodiment with four SPTs, the four SPTs may be sufficient toprove when the services started and whether the services are deliveredentirely by the service provider system 106 a to the user associatedwith the user system 102 a or not. Therefore, by retrieving these fourSPTs from the blockchain device 502, the initiation and delivery of theservices can be proven.

In some embodiments, the blockchain device 502 further stores locationcoordinates of the service provider system 106 a along with time stampedcomputer-executable information associated with receipt of the locationcoordinates of the service provider system 106 a. The time stampedcomputer-executable information signifies digital representation of atime parameter that indicate the time when the location coordinates ofthe service provider system 106 a were received by the blockchain device502. In embodiments, the time stamped information may indicate when theactual service was initiated for delivery by the service provider system106 a and when the service was completely delivered to the userassociated with the user system 102 a.

The marketplace server 110 may further include or be coupled to acentral verification device 824 to verify the first evidence of theservice delivery and the second evidence of the service delivery(discussed above) by retrieving the unique respective STPs from theblockchain device 502 upon request from an involved participant. In casethe four STPs are generated in accordance with some embodiments asdiscussed above, the central verification device 824 may verify one ormore of the first evidence of the service delivery, second evidence ofthe service delivery, third evidence of the service delivery, and thefourth evidence of the service delivery by retrieving the unique SPTs(such as the first SPT, second SPT, third SPT, and the fourth SPT) fromthe blockchain device 502 upon request from an external system. Theexternal system can be the service provider system 106 a or the usersystem 102 a, etc. The external entity can be the buyer system as wellwho is not involved in the receipt or delivery or the service directlybut is consuming the consented data of the user. The verification by thecentral verification device 824 may help determine whether one or moreof the services were performed in the service setting or not.

The computer-controlled evidence system 816 may include combinedmechanisms, software, and hardware components for facilitating recordingof the evidence so that they are stored in a blockchain database 606 ofthe blockchain device 502. The evidence of the service delivery asrecorded by the computer-controlled evidence system 816 are eventuallyconverted into digital signals and tokens that may be stored along withthe SPTs such as the first SPT (SPT1), second SPT (SPT2), third SPT(SPT3), and the fourth SPT (SPT4).

The computer-controlled evidence system 816 may include one or more of aglobal positioning system (GPS1), a voice recognition device, an imagerecognition device, and one or sensors connected in the service settingfor recording evidence in various forms, and the like.

The computer-controlled evidence system 816 may include combinedmechanisms, software, and hardware components for facilitating recordingof the evidence so that they are stored in the blockchain database 606of the blockchain device 502. The evidence of the service delivery asrecorded by the computer-controlled evidence system 816 are eventuallyconverted into digital signals and tokens that may be stored along withthe SPTs such as the first SPT (SPT1), second SPT (SPT2), third SPT(SPT3), and the fourth SPT (SPT4).

In some embodiments, the service provider system 106 a and the usersystem 10 a may respectively include their GPS devices that may beconfigured to sense location information of the service provider system106 a and the user system (user system 102 a. The GPS devices may beconfigured to sense location information of the service provider system106 a and the user system (mobile communication device) 102 a, in anembodiment. In an example, when the user visits the service setting foravailing the service, the sensed location information of the serviceprovider system 106 a and the user system 102 a signify place of thedelivery of the service and hence a location-dependent evidence of thepresence of the service provider system 106 a and the user system 102 aduring delivery of the service to the user is recorded.

The detection of location information of the user system 102 a and theservice provider system 106 a by the first respective GPS devices thatare individually controlled by respective owners (owner devices) mayfacilitate recording an evidence of the service delivery in the form ofthe location information or location coordinates which indicate thepresence of the user system (who receives the service) 102 a and theservice provider system (who delivers the service) 106 a at the samelocation during the delivery of the service in the service setting. EachGPS may be defined to sense the location coordinates of the respectivesystems 102 a and 106 a reliably that may not be modified.

In some cases, other ways or recording evidence may be employed withoutlimitations. These may include such as voice recognition, imagerecognition, intelligent ambient sound and video recording, etc. todetect respective identity information in the form of a verified image,voice, sound characteristic, etc. of the entity and/or the associateduser system 102 a and the like, and the service provider or therespective service provider system 106 a.

One or more of the evidence as recorded from the one or more devicesincluding such as the GPS devices are automatically generated uponactivation of the first secured hashlink and the second secured hashlink(and in some cases the third secured hashlink and the fourth securedhashlink) by the user system 102 a and the service provider system 106 arespectively when the first SMS and the second SMS are sent to the usersystem 102 a and the service provider system 106 a. As soon as thesecured hashlinks are activated, the two SPTs (and in some cases thefour SPTs) that generally contain the evidence information including oneor more of the location information (location-based evidence), imageinformation (image-based evidence), voice information (voice-basedevidence), and the sensed information are generated. In embodiments,when the four SPTs are generated based on the activation of the fourdiscrete SPTs—two for start of the service and two for end of theservice, the four SPTs may contain the evidence information, such thatduring start of the service, the two SPTs contain a first set ofevidence information that is indicative of the evidence during start ofthe service, the other two SPTs contain a second set of evidenceinformation that is indicative of the evidence at the end of the servicedelivery. However, in some embodiments, even with cases of the foursecured hashlinks being generated and the four SPTs being created,evidence of the service delivery may be recorded only for the twosecured hashlinks that are associated with the end of the servicedelivery as the third party might be interested only in knowing aboutthe evidence of successful delivery of the service and not the start ofthe service.

At any point of time during transactional exchange or during theownership transfer of the tradable data, if the evidence of the deliveryis verified to be true, the data transfer automatically occurs digitallyin favor of the participant such as the service provider system 106 athrough a digitally communicated signal. However, if the evidence isrejected due to lack of reliability or failure to an availability of theevidence at all or due to any other reason, the data transfer is notprocessed. The user may still counter a decision to reject the claim ifthe rejection is not on accurate grounds. In such a case, the user maychoose other options such as to manually report the evidence of theservice delivery to a concerned authority for making necessarycorrections or take a legal route for prosecuting the matter if it doesnot agree with the decision.

As shown in FIG. 5, the evidence system may be connected with theblockchain ecosystem 500 to allow integrity of submission of theevidence of the service delivery and the service proof tokens asdiscussed above. This may facilitate association of an identity to theevidence thus submitted and also define and store a geographical andtemporal identity such as when and in which location presence of theparticipants and their respective devices such as user system 102 a andthe service provider system 106 a are noted. The blockchain configuredecosystem 500 may provide a crowdsourced integrity network for storingthe evidence instead of locally stored information by differentparticipants that may be tampered.

The computer-controlled evidence system interacts with the blockchaindevice 502. The blockchain ecosystem 500 may build trust among thevarious participants or entities and their associated computingterminals or devices even if the devices/terminals, etc. may not knowone another. The blockchain network may allow connections andtransactions and recording and sharing of the evidence and the serviceproof tokens in a trusted mode so that data transfer at a later time canbe automated and promised without fail. A record of transactions andsharing and data from various terminals/devices stored on the blockchainin the form of computer-executable distributed blockchain ledgers 506may provide proof to command the necessary trust among theterminals/devices (such as those associated with various participantsincluding the user system 102 a, service provider system 106 a, etc.) tocooperate through a peer-to-peer or peer-to-client distributed digitalledger technology.

In accordance with various embodiments, different mechanisms may beemployed for the computer-controlled evidence system to record theevidence and store them into the blockchain device 502. For example, inan embodiment, two-fold system may be employed such that the two-foldsystem may include a call- or SMS-based system as discussed above,wherein the SMS is sent or a call is made to the user system 102 a andthe service provider system 106 a for enabling initiation of the startof the service tokens and the end of the service tokens.

The use of authorized data as currency as discussed above for buyingand/or selling certain services through the marketplace network 100 mayprovide a facility of establishing an alternative currency or acentralized virtual currency in various technology ecosystems such ashealthcare, insurance, research and innovation, crowdsourced scenariosetc. The payment engine 312 also referred to as a payment processingsystem or engine may be integrated with the centralized virtual currencytermed herein as Pay Per Data (PPD) to provide a standardized and moreefficient virtual currency that can provide easier tracking of and useof a consumer's virtual currency balance. The payment engine mayimplement a network communications system such as the systems 102, 104,and 106 that may allow the payment engine 312 to establish themarketplace network 100 based on common interest of the participantsaround transacting for the data.

PPD as the virtual currency or digital payment information that isassociated with a value (e.g., monetary, loyalty based, etc.) is an areathat merchants, consumers, payment processors, and issuers mayrecognized as important as the network grows for a particular industryecosystem and as the participants adopt it into their daily routines.However, typical virtual currencies are not regulated by anyorganization or entity, which increases their susceptibility to fraud.PPD may generate its value by virtue of a significant worth associatedwith the approved data and therefore is not risky for trading as long asthere is a secured way of transacting the data and keep the data safe.The present invention provides necessary security mechanisms through theuse of the blockchain architecture as discussed elsewhere herein.

In some embodiments, the PPD may be converted in the form of a virtualcurrency for using services against the converted virtual currency at alater time. For example, a user might want to sell his/her data andgenerate an equivalent amount of worth of it in the form of the definedvirtual currency, but may not avail any service at the same time.However, the virtual currency obtained by selling the data may be usedin future for either purchasing any service from any of the serviceproviders networked over the marketplace network 100 or may possiblyconvert into conventional currency if any of the participants areinterested. In this way, the marketplace not only provides a way topurchase the services against the data but also allows the participantsto use their data as the virtual currency for trading in the marketplacewithout restricted to buying the service against the time at the sametime. In an example, the marketplace network 100 may be integrated withconventional marketplaces such that the marketplace network 100 mayallow both type of transactions—conventional and those based on PPD.

The marketplace network 100 may enable reputation management of theservice providers and buyers in the network to provide and collateinputs that can be used to calculate a reputation rating for theparticipants in order to provide enhanced service experience and trustbuilding among the various participants. A reputation rating may includeofficial certifications, but it may not as well. For instance, the usersmay provide inputs indicative of what they thought of the quality ofservice provided by the selected providers. Similarly, the serviceproviders may provide inputs indicating how easy it was to work with theusers, how quickly they paid, etc. Similarly, reputations can begenerated for the buyers. Generating the reputation and providing theinputs for building reputation may be done through particular userinterface displays, allowing receiving the reputation inputs from theparticipants by the marketplace network 100. Once the relevantreputation inputs are received, a reputation component (not shown)contained within the marketplace server 110 may update the reputationranking (or other reputation indicia) for the correspondingparticipants, and stores it in the database 122, or in another datastore so it can be accessed by other users, service providers or otherparticipants in the marketplace network 100. In an embodiment, thedatabase 122 and the blockchain database 606 may represent the samedatabase of the ecosystem is blockchain configured. In some embodiments,they may be two separate databases where one or more functions of onedatabase can be performed by the other one as well.

Some embodiments are listed herein as numbered examples additionallywithout limitations:

Example 1

An embodiment herein provides a computer-controlled marketplace networkfor facilitating seamless transactions among a plurality of marketplacenetwork participant systems. The marketplace network includes aplurality of service provider systems associated with respective serviceprovider participants and located remotely from one another physicallyin respective service settings that each includes one or more centralservers, data stores, and cloud-based computing components for managingand processing delivery of one or more services in the service settingsby the plurality of service provider systems. Each of the plurality ofservice provider systems are communicatively coupled to a respectivemerchant server. The marketplace network further includes a plurality ofuser systems associated with respective user participants locatedremotely from one another and remotely from the plurality of serviceprovider systems and configured to generate a service request to one ofthe plurality of service provider systems in the marketplace network.

The marketplace server facilitates marketplace transactions digitally byexecuting a set of computer-executable tasks for securely processingtransactional exchanges among the marketplace network participantsystems, wherein the transactional exchanges include at least exchangesof ownership rights for digitally stored data at least in part ownedoriginally by the user participants. The marketplace server includes amarketplace interaction component where the service providerparticipants can establish their one or more offerings digitally for thetransactional exchanges. The one or more offerings are associated withrespective transactional values that are predefined across themarketplace network by the respective service provider participants. Themarketplace server includes a memory circuit configured to storetransactional information associated with each transactional exchange ofthe transactional exchanges among the participants in the marketplacenetwork. The marketplace server includes a processing circuit incommunication with the memory circuit and configured to process atransactional exchange digitally and generate an ownership trail of atransacted offering when a user participant consents for data ownershiptransfer, exclusively or inclusively for the data at least in part, fromthe user participant, toward a digital purchase and delivery of theoffering, wherein the data at least in part has a value of at leastequal to a transactional value of the offering exchanged between theservice provider participant and the user participant over themarketplace network.

Example 2

An embodiment herein provides a merchant acquisition system forfacilitating acquisition of an item in a digital marketplace network.The merchant acquisition system includes a merchant servercommunicatively coupled and associated with a service provider system.The merchant server includes a processor and a physical storage mediumthat stores merchandise information and transactional informationassociated with the service provider system. The processor is configuredto define a set of digitally recognizable data valuation parameters forone or more entities and attributes associated with tradable dataoriginally stored at a user system remotely located from the merchantserver. The processor is further configured to publish the set ofdigitally recognizable data valuation parameters defined by the serviceprovider system in the marketplace network along with digitally listedone or more offerings and transact for the item with a user participantassociated with the user system with data ownership transfer for thetradable data at least in part owned originally by the user participantand valued at a transactional value no less than value of the itemcalculated in accordance with the set of digitally recognizable datavaluation parameters defined by the service provider system.

The merchant server may be communicatively coupled to a buyer serverlocated remotely from the merchant server, wherein the buyer server isassociated with a respective buyer participant, such that thetransactional value for the offering may be defined by the merchantserver based on an input received from the buyer server. An ownershiptrail of the data ownership transfer for the data at least in part mayinclude at least a transfer of the ownership from the user participantto the service provider participant, and from the service providerparticipant to the buyer participant either in real-time or deferred fora later time than when the acquisition of the item is performed.

The merchant server, the buyer server, and the user system are incommunication with one another over a peer-to-peer communication networkthat maintains a decentralized blockchain ledger for tracking andrecording the acquisition of the item and the ownership trail. Each ofthe merchant server, the buyer server, and the user system may includeat least one processing circuit and at least one physical storage mediumthat stores at least a portion of the decentralized blockchain ledgerincluding a distributed database to record acquisition informationassociated with the acquisition of the item that occur on thepeer-to-peer communication network between at least two of the merchantserver, the buyer server, and the user system.

Example 3

An embodiment herein provides a computer-controlled system for automatedevidence-based transactional exchange between a service provider systemassociated with a service provider and a mobile communication deviceassociated with a user. The system includes a merchant server configuredto collect predefined information about a mobile communication deviceand an associated user. The predefined information includes at least afirst computer-executable input indicative of an identifier of themobile communication device and the associated user, and a secondcomputer-executable input indicative of a service sought for delivery inthe service setting. The merchant server is further configured togenerate a first short message service component (SMS) that is sent tothe mobile communication device. The merchant server is furtherconfigured to generate a second short message service component (SMS)that is sent to a service provider system. The first SMS and the secondSMS contain a first secured hashlink and a second secured hashlinkrespectively that are executable by the user and the service providerrespectively, such that the first SMS and the second SMS are indicativeof delivery of the service. The merchant server is further configured toallow a transaction involving delivery of the service to the user andtransfer of ownership of digitally executable data originally owned bythe user to the service provider when the data is available at a latertime in return of the service availed by the user.

Example 4

An embodiment herein provides a computer-controlled system for automatedevidence-based transactional exchange between a service provider systemassociated with a service provider and a mobile communication deviceassociated with a user. The system includes a server configured tocollect predefined information about a mobile communication device andan associated user. The predefined information includes at least a firstcomputer-executable input indicative of an identifier of the mobilecommunication device and the associated user, and a secondcomputer-executable input indicative of a service sought for delivery inthe service setting. The server is further configured to generate andsend a confirmation electronic message along with a digitally executableunique service proof token (SPT) to the mobile communication device andthe service provider system upon completion of the service delivery. Theunique SPT is associated with each of the mobile communication deviceand the service provider system and records an evidence of thecompletion and delivery of the service by the service provider system tothe user associated with the mobile communication device. The server isfurther configured to allow a transaction involving transfer ofownership of digitally executable data, originally owned by the user, tothe service provider system when the data is available at a later timein return of the service availed by the user.

In an example, the various systems described herein and/or illustratedin the figures may be considered sub-systems in the marketplace network100. The various systems and corresponding components described hereinand/or illustrated in the figures may be embodied as hardware-enabledmodules and may be a plurality of overlapping or independent electroniccircuits, devices, and discrete elements packaged onto a circuit boardto provide data and signal processing functionality within a computer.An example might be a comparator, inverter, or flip-flop, which couldinclude a plurality of transistors and other supporting devices andcircuit elements. The systems that include electronic circuits processcomputer logic instructions capable of providing digital and/or analogsignals for performing various functions as described herein. Thevarious functions can further be embodied and physically saved as any ofdata structures, data paths, data objects, data object models, objectfiles, database components. For example, the data objects could includea digital packet of structured data. Example data structures may includeany of an array, tuple, map, union, variant, set, graph, tree, node, andan object, which may be stored and retrieved by computer memory and maybe managed by processors, compilers, and other computer hardwarecomponents. The data paths can be part of a computer CPU or GPU thatperforms operations and calculations as instructed by the computer logicinstructions. The data paths could include digital electronic circuits,multipliers, registers, and buses capable of performing data processingoperations and arithmetic operations (e.g., Add, Subtract, etc.),bitwise logical operations (AND, OR, XOR, etc.), bit shift operations(e.g., arithmetic, logical, rotate, etc.), complex operations (e.g.,using single clock calculations, sequential calculations, iterativecalculations, etc.). The data objects may be physical locations incomputer memory and can be a variable, a data structure, or a function.Some examples of the modules include relational databases (e.g., such asOracle® relational databases), and the data objects can be a table orcolumn, for example. Other examples include specialized objects,distributed objects, object-oriented programming objects, and semanticweb objects. The data object models can be an application programminginterface for creating HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML) electronic documents. The models can be any of atree, graph, container, list, map, queue, set, stack, and variationsthereof, according to some examples. The data object files can becreated by compilers and assemblers and contain generated binary codeand data for a source file. The database components can include any oftables, indexes, views, stored procedures, and triggers.

In other examples, the systems and components described herein may beprogrammable modules and may be configured as a computer program productthat includes a pre-configured set of instructions, which whenperformed, can result in actions as stated in conjunction with themethods and techniques described herein. In an example, thepre-configured set of instructions may be stored on a tangiblenon-transitory computer readable medium or a program storage device. Inan example, the tangible non-transitory computer readable medium may beconfigured to include the set of instructions, which when performed by adevice, can cause the device to perform acts similar to the onesdescribed here. Embodiments herein may also include tangible and/ornon-transitory computer-readable storage media for carrying or havingcomputer executable instructions or data structures stored thereon.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, datastructures, objects, and the functions inherent in the design ofspecial-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. Computer executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps. The embodiments herein can include both hardware and softwareelements. The embodiments that are implemented in software include butare not limited to, firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.

In an example, the embodiments herein can provide a computer programproduct configured to include a pre-configured set of instructions,which when performed, can result in actions as stated in conjunctionwith various figures herein. In an example, the pre-configured set ofinstructions can be stored on a tangible non-transitory computerreadable medium. In an example, the tangible non-transitory computerreadable medium can be configured to include the set of instructions,which when performed by a device, can cause the device to perform actssimilar to the ones described here.

Embodiments herein may also include tangible and/or non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media for carrying or havingcomputer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Suchnon-transitory computer readable storage media can be any availablemedia that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purposecomputer, including the functional design of any special purposeprocessor as discussed above. By way of example, and not limitation,such non-transitory computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tocarry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chipdesign. When information is transferred or provided over a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata which cause a special purpose computer or special purposeprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.Computer-executable instructions also include program modules that areexecuted by computers in stand-alone or network environments. Generally,program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures,objects, and the functions inherent in the design of special-purposeprocessors, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Computer-executable instructions, associated datastructures, and program modules represent examples of the program codemeans for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. Theparticular sequence of such executable instructions or associated datastructures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementingthe functions described in such steps.

The techniques provided by the embodiments herein may be implemented onan integrated circuit chip (not shown). The chip design is created in agraphical computer programming language, and stored in a computerstorage medium (such as a disk, tape, physical hard drive, or virtualhard drive such as in a storage access network. If the designer does notfabricate chips or the photolithographic masks used to fabricate chips,the designer transmits the resulting design by physical means (e.g., byproviding a copy of the storage medium storing the design) orelectronically (e.g., through the Internet) to such entities, directlyor indirectly. The stored design is then converted into the appropriateformat (e.g., GDSII) for the fabrication of photolithographic masks,which typically include multiple copies of the chip design in questionthat are to be formed on a wafer. The photolithographic masks areutilized to define areas of the wafer (and/or the layers thereon) to beetched or otherwise processed.

The resulting integrated circuit chips can be distributed by thefabricator in raw wafer form (that is, as a single wafer that hasmultiple unpackaged chips), as a bare die, or in a packaged form. In thelatter case the chip is mounted in a single chip package (such as aplastic carrier, with leads that are affixed to a motherboard or otherhigher level carrier) or in a multichip package (such as a ceramiccarrier that has either or both surface interconnections or buriedinterconnections). In any case the chip is then integrated with otherchips, discrete circuit elements, and/or other signal processing devicesas part of either (a) an intermediate product, such as a motherboard, or(b) an end product. The end product can be any product that includesintegrated circuit chips, ranging from toys and other low-endapplications to advanced computer products having a display, a keyboardor other input device, and a central processor.

The embodiments herein can include both hardware and software elements.The embodiments that are implemented in software include but are notlimited to, firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.

Furthermore, the embodiments herein can take the form of a computerprogram product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readablemedium providing program code for use by or in connection with acomputer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of thisdescription, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be anyapparatus that can comprise, store, communicate, propagate, or transportthe program for use by or in connection with the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device.

The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or apropagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include asemiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computerdiskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), arigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of opticaldisks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compactdisk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code in order to reduce the number of times code must beretrieved from bulk storage during execution.

Input/output (I/O) devices (including but not limited to keyboards,displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system eitherdirectly or through intervening I/O controllers. Network adapters mayalso be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system tobecome coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers orstorage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems,cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently availabletypes of network adapters.

A representative hardware environment for practicing the embodimentsherein is depicted in FIG. 9, with reference to FIGS. 1 through 8. Thisschematic drawing illustrates a hardware configuration of an informationhandling/computer system 900 in accordance with the embodiments herein.The system 900 comprises at least one processor or central processingunit (CPU) 10. The CPUs 10 are interconnected via system bus 12 tovarious devices such as a random access memory (RAM) 14, read-onlymemory (ROM) 16, and an input/output (I/O) adapter 18. The I/O adapter18 can connect to peripheral devices, such as disk units 11 and tapedrives 13, or other program storage devices that are readable by thesystem. The system 900 can read the inventive instructions on theprogram storage devices and follow these instructions to execute themethodology of the embodiments herein. The system 900 further includes auser interface adapter 19 that connects a keyboard 15, mouse 17, speaker24, microphone 22, and/or other user interface devices such as a touchscreen device (not shown) to the bus 12 to gather user input.Additionally, a communication adapter 20 connects the bus 12 to a dataprocessing network, and a display adapter 21 connects the bus 12 to adisplay device 23 which may be embodied as an output device such as amonitor, printer, or transmitter, for example. Further, a transceiver26, a signal comparator 27, and a signal converter 28 may be connectedwith the bus 12 for processing, transmission, receipt, comparison, andconversion of electric or electronic signals.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, byapplying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for variousapplications such specific embodiments without departing from thegeneric concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modificationsshould and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood thatthe phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose ofdescription and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodimentsherein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can bepracticed with modification within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system containing a computer-controlledmarketplace network for facilitating seamless transactions among aplurality of marketplace network participant systems, the systemcomprising: a plurality of service provider systems associated withrespective service provider participants and located remotely from oneanother physically in respective service settings that each includes oneor more central computer servers, data stores, and cloud-based computingcomponents for managing and processing delivery of one or more servicesin the service settings by the plurality of service provider systems,wherein each of the plurality of service provider systems arecommunicatively coupled to a respective merchant server; a plurality ofuser systems associated with respective user participants locatedremotely from one another and remotely from the plurality of serviceprovider systems and configured to generate a service request to one ofthe plurality of service provider systems in the marketplace network; acomputerized marketplace server that facilitates marketplacetransactions digitally by executing a set of computer-executable tasksfor securely processing transactional exchanges among the marketplacenetwork participant systems, wherein the transactional exchangescomprise at least exchanges of ownership rights for digitally storeddata at least in part owned originally by the user participants, themarketplace server comprising: a marketplace interaction componentthrough which the service provider participants can establish their oneor more offerings digitally for the transactional exchanges, the one ormore offerings associated with respective transactional valuespredefined across the marketplace network by the respective serviceprovider participants; a memory circuit configured to storetransactional information associated with each transactional exchange ofthe transactional exchanges among the participants in the marketplacenetwork; and a processing circuit in communication with the memorycircuit and configured to process a transactional exchange digitally andgenerate an ownership trail of a transacted offering when a userparticipant consents for data ownership transfer, exclusively orinclusively for the data at least in part, from the user participant,toward a digital purchase and delivery of the offering, wherein the dataat least in part has a value of at least equal to a transactional valueof the offering exchanged between the service provider participant andthe user participant over the marketplace network.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the marketplace interaction component further allowsthe plurality of service provider systems to: define a set of digitallyrecognizable data valuation parameters for one or more entities andattributes associated with the one or more entities; publish the set ofdigitally recognizable data valuation parameters defined by theplurality of service provider systems; and transact for the offeringsdigitally published in the marketplace network with the data ownershiptransfer for the data at least in part valued at the transactionalvalue, associated with the offering, calculated in accordance with theset of digitally recognizable data valuation parameters identified bythe plurality of service provider systems, wherein the set digitallyrecognizable data valuation parameters comprise one or more of type ofthe data, length of the data, source of the data, number of entitiescontained in the data, and number of attributes associated with each ofthe entities.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction exchangeincludes either of: delivery of the offering to the user participant bythe service provider system and transferring of the data to the serviceprovider system by the user participant system at the time of thetransaction exchange, wherein the transferring of the data to theservice provider system comprises one or more of changing accessprivileges for the service provider system for the data and sharingaccess credentials of a secured repository containing the data to theservice provider system for allowing access; and delivery of theoffering to the user participant by the service provider system at thetime of transaction exchange and delaying the transferring of the datato the service provider system by the user participant system for alater specified time depending on availability of the data with the userparticipant system.
 4. The system of claim 1, further comprising aplurality of buyer systems associated with respective buyer participantslocated remotely from one another and remotely from the plurality ofservice provider systems and the user systems, wherein each of theplurality of buyer systems comprises a respective buyer server.
 5. Thesystem of claim 4, wherein the plurality of service provider systems arecommunicatively coupled to the plurality of buyer systems such that thetransactional value for the offering is defined based on an inputreceived from the plurality of buyer systems by the plurality of serviceprovider systems, and wherein the trail of ownership transfer comprisesat least a transfer of ownership from the user participant to theservice provider participant, and from the service provider participantto the buyer participant either in real-time or deferred for a latertime than when the transactional exchange is performed.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of participant systems are incommunication with one another over a peer-to-peer communication networkthat maintains a decentralized blockchain ledger for tracking andrecording the transactional exchanges and ownership trails, and whereineach of the participant systems includes at least one processing circuitand at least one physical storage medium that stores at least a portionof the decentralized blockchain ledger comprising a distributed databaseto record transactional information associated with a transactionalexchange that occurs on the peer-to-peer communication network betweenat least two participants systems.
 7. A merchant acquisition system forfacilitating acquisition of an item in a digital marketplace network,the merchant acquisition system comprising a merchant servercommunicatively coupled and associated with a service provider system,wherein the merchant server comprises a processor and a physical storagemedium that stores merchandise information and transactional informationassociated with the service provider system, the processor configuredto: define a set of digitally recognizable data valuation parameters forone or more entities and attributes associated with tradable dataoriginally stored at a user system remotely located from the merchantserver; publish the set of digitally recognizable data valuationparameters defined by the service provider system in the marketplacenetwork along with digitally listed one or more offerings; and transact,for the item with a user participant associated with the user system,data ownership transfer for the tradable data at least in part ownedoriginally by the user participant and valued at a transactional valueno less than value of the item calculated in accordance with the set ofdigitally recognizable data valuation parameters defined by the serviceprovider system.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the merchant serveris communicatively coupled to a buyer server located remotely from themerchant server, wherein the buyer server is associated with arespective buyer participant, such that the transactional value for theoffering is defined by the merchant server based on an input receivedfrom the buyer server, wherein an ownership trail of the data ownershiptransfer for the data at least in part comprises at least a transfer ofthe ownership from the user participant to the service providerparticipant, and from the service provider participant to the buyerparticipant either in real-time or deferred for a later time than whenthe acquisition of the item is performed.
 9. The system of claim 7,wherein the merchant server, the buyer server, and the user system arein communication with one another over a peer-to-peer communicationnetwork that maintains a decentralized blockchain ledger for trackingand recording the acquisition of the item and the ownership trail,wherein each of the merchant server, the buyer server, and the usersystem includes at least one processing circuit and at least onephysical storage medium that stores at least a portion of thedecentralized blockchain ledger comprising a distributed database torecord acquisition information associated with the acquisition of theitem that occur on the peer-to-peer communication network between atleast two of the merchant server, the buyer server, and the user system.10. The system of claim 9, wherein the merchant server is a firstmerchant server and the service provider system is a first serviceprovider system, the system further comprising a number of merchantservers associated with respective service provider systems, eachpublishing one or more digital offerings in the marketplace networktradable in return of ownership transfer of one or more data files froma number of computer-executable data files, and wherein each of thecomputer-executable data files is owned originally by a user participantfrom a number of user participants associated with respective usersystems and communicating with the first merchant server and the numberof merchant servers over the marketplace network.
 11. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the merchant server enables a cryptographic wallet toreflect equivalent transactional value of one or morecomputer-executable data files owned originally by the user participantand marked by the user participant for trading in the marketplacenetwork, wherein the one or more computer-executable data filescomprising the tradable data in return of the one or more offerings,wherein the cryptographic wallet provides one or more acquisition-drivensmart contracts that enable security of transactional information amongtransacting participants, and wherein the cryptographic wallet isconfigured to append blocks to the decentralized blockchain ledger withevery acquisition which enables recording of the transactionalinformation across many systems associated with the network participantsso that any involved information cannot be altered.
 12. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the acquisition of the item includes either: deliveryof the offering to the user participant by the merchant server andtransferring of the data to the merchant server by the user participantsystem at the time of the acquisition, wherein the transferring of thedata to the merchant server comprises one or more of modifying accessprivileges for the merchant server so as to allows the data to beaccessed by the merchant server, and sharing access credentials of asecured repository containing the data to the merchant server forallowing access; or delivery of the offering to the user participant bythe merchant server at the time of acquisition of the item and delayingthe transferring of the data to the merchant server by the userparticipant system for a later specified time depending on availabilityof the data with the user participant system.
 13. A computer-controlledsystem for automated evidence-based transactional exchange between aservice provider system associated with a service provider and a mobilecommunication device associated with a user, the system comprising amerchant server configured to: collect predefined information about amobile communication device and an associated user, the predefinedinformation comprising at least a first computer-executable inputindicative of an identifier of the mobile communication device and theassociated user, and a second computer-executable input indicative of aservice sought for delivery in the service setting, generate a firstshort message service component (SMS) that is sent to the mobilecommunication device; generate a second SMS that is sent to a serviceprovider system, wherein the first SMS and the second SMS contain afirst secured hashlink and a second secured hashlink respectively thatare executable by the user and the service provider respectively, suchthat the first SMS and the second SMS are indicative of delivery of theservice; and allow a transaction involving: delivery of the service tothe user, and transfer of ownership of digitally executable dataoriginally owned by the user to the service provider when the data isavailable at a later time in return of the service availed by the user.14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data is valued at no less than avalue of the service calculated in accordance with a set of digitallyrecognizable data valuation parameters defined by the service providersystem, wherein the merchant server generates and sends a confirmationelectronic message along with a digitally executable unique serviceproof token (SPT) to the mobile communication device and the serviceprovider system upon completion of the service delivery after executionof the first secured hashlink and the second secured hashlinkrespectively by the mobile communication device and the service providersystem, and wherein the unique SPT is associated with each of the mobilecommunication device and the service provider system and is indicativeof completion and delivery of the service by the service provider systemto the user associated with the mobile communication device.
 15. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the service provider system accesses thedata automatically from a database when the data is available uponsubmitting the service proof token (SPT), and wherein the SPT serves asan evidence of the delivery of the service by the service provider tothe user at a different prior time when the data was not yet available.16. The system of claim 15, further comprising: a blockchain device thatautomatically stores computer-executable instructions comprising the SPTassociated with the mobile communication device and the service providersystem for delivery of the service; and a central verification devicethat verifies the evidence of the service delivery, wherein the centralverification device compares the SPT submitted by the service systemwith the SPT stored in the blockchain device to allow the serviceprovider system access to the database storing the data.
 17. Acomputer-controlled system for automated evidence-based transactionalexchange between a service provider system associated with a serviceprovider and a mobile communication device associated with a user, thesystem comprising a server configured to: collect predefined informationabout a mobile communication device and an associated user, thepredefined information comprising at least a first computer-executableinput indicative of an identifier of the mobile communication device andthe associated user, and a second computer-executable input indicativeof a service sought for delivery in the service setting, generate andsend a confirmation electronic message along with a digitally executableunique service proof token (SPT) to the mobile communication device andthe service provider system upon completion of the service delivery,wherein the unique SPT is associated with each of the mobilecommunication device and the service provider system and records anevidence of the completion and delivery of the service by the serviceprovider system to the user associated with the mobile communicationdevice; and allow a transaction involving transfer of ownership ofdigitally executable data, originally owned by the user, to the serviceprovider system when the data is available at a later time in return ofthe service availed by the user.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein theserver generates a first short message service component (SMS) that issent to the mobile communication device, wherein the server generates asecond SMS that is sent to the service provider system, and wherein thefirst SMS and the second SMS contain a first secured hashlink and asecond secured hashlink respectively that are executable by the user andthe service provider respectively, such that the first SMS and thesecond SMS are indicative of delivery of the service.
 19. The system ofclaim 18, wherein the SPT is generated after execution of the firstsecured hashlink and the second secured hashlink respectively by themobile communication device and the service provider system, wherein thefirst secured hashlink and the second secured hashlink are eachexecutable with clicks such that the execution of the first securedhashlink and the second secured hashlink record a proof of respectivelocations of the mobile communication device and the service providersystem, and wherein respective clicks record GPS locations of the mobilecommunication device and the service provider system.
 20. The system ofclaim 19, further comprising a blockchain device, wherein the GPSlocations of the mobile communication device and the service providersystem along with service details are stored in the blockchain devicewithin the STP, and wherein the service provider system is configured toautomatically secure the ownership of the digitally executable data at alater time using the STP from the blockchain device.